Nursery of learning

Nestled amid the Al Khod hills 45 kilometres from Muscat, the Oman Botanic Garden promises to be a vital educative space at the regional and international levels. Spread over 420 hectares, the garden, now under construction, is expected to be completed in a few years.

A Royal Decree in 2006 established the Oman Botanic Garden under the Office for Conservation of the Environment, Diwan of the Royal Court. The vision underlying the garden's creation is to protect the plants of Oman and preserve the sultanate's plant-related heritage.

The garden will consist of recreated habitats endemic to Oman, a traditional Omani heritage village, research facilities, a seed-bank and a herbarium to preserve seeds and plant specimens.

Additionally, the garden and its associated structures will be built according to LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certifications, the green buildings supporting the garden's agenda of sustainable development.

Consistent with the sultanate's long-term vision of protecting the environment and raising awareness about the importance of doing so, the garden is also contributing to international measures, such as the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation adopted by the Convention on Biological Diversity in 2002, to halt the loss of plant diversity. "While the garden's primary audience is Omani, the nature of issues that the garden will engage with — such as climate change and its effects on biodiversity — means it will inevitably involve and address local and international audiences," says Sarah Kneebone, education and interpretation expert.

The destruction of habitats globally has resulted in increased loss of biodiversity. The gravity of the situation intensifies further, considering that even knowledge of what is being lost is lacking.

"For example, at present we know of 1,200 plant species of which 80 are endemic to Oman. There may be more," Kneebone says, adding that 20 new species have been discovered during expeditions that the botanic garden has undertaken across the sultanate to collect seed and plant specimens.

Nevertheless, in an effort to close gaps of knowledge regarding biodiversity, the Oman Botanic Garden will also be helping out with the Royal Botanic Garden's Kew Millennium Seed Bank project by ensuring representation of Omani plants in it.

The Oman Botanic Garden is also keen to highlight and make relevant the age-old links between communities and surrounding flora.

"Through exhibitions and activities, we hope that people will forge an emotional connection with the plants and plant heritage, recognising both their natural and cultural significance," says Kneebone; for example, an exhibition about the frankincense tree will emphasise its economic importance in ancient times, making Oman a part of the famed Silk Route.

The first phase, consisting of the nursery in which plants intended for the botanic garden are grown, was launched in December 2008.

A tour through the nursery provides a glimpse into the journey of a seed towards becoming a full-fledged plant specimen to be planted in one of the habitats. Once the seed and plant-specimen collecting expeditions culminate in seed storage, the resident horticulturalists clean and preserve the seeds, monitor their germination in temperature-controlled conditions and transplantion of the seedlings in containers of appropriate size prior to placing them in open-shade nurseries.

Later, each plant specimen will be planted in its respective habitat. "To ensure that each habitat has sufficient number of plants, 500 per cent seeds are grown — five times the required target — to ensure back-ups. Once the target is met, plant specimens will be grown for the herbarium," says Dareen Mehdi, environmental education specialist. The nursery has 64,000 plants of 330 species, the largest documented collection of Arabian plants in the world.

The ongoing second phase focuses on the field and research orientation centre, where visitors will enter the garden and explore exhibitions. The research centre will include laboratories, lecture theatre, library and dormitories, facilitating those who wish to conduct research in situ. "We will not develop the entire site; our focus is on the central area, where the habitats and the heritage village will be located. The rest will be a nature reserve," Mehdi points out.

The idea underlying the habitats is to recreate them as they are in nature, with only native plants growing there. The seven outdoor and three indoor habitats include the Hajar Mountains, Wadi, Sand Desert and Dhofari habitats. Mehdi emphasises that the aim is to immerse the visitors in each habitat that they happen to visit. For example, the Hajar Mountains habitat would evoke the cool temperatures and vegetation of the area.

"Each habitat will be a world in itself, a natural amphitheatre," says Mehdi. "It won't be as if you are moving through different spaces on a bare patch of land."

Each habitat will feature its own interpretation centre, educating visitors about the habitat's climate, its flora and the plants' relationship with the local communities.

The educative space at the Sand Desert will inform visitors about Bedouin tribes and the survival techniques they developed to withstand the harsh conditions.

"One of our main attractions is the Dhofari habitat," says Mehdi. With its unique meteorological quirk of the Khareef [monsoon] season, the biome will cycle through the season in three parts.

The first will depict Dhofar just before the Khareef, while the second will display Khareef at its peak with mist, dew and lush green vegetation. The final part will depict the end of Khareef, with levels of mist and dew declining.

The visitor will have experienced three different seasons of the southern biome in a matter of 30 minutes.

"Cycling through seasons has never been attempted before in a garden," says Dareen. "The trend is to have controlled temperatures in nursery-like conditions, whereas here we are taking the visitors on a meteorological voyage."

The biome has all the more potential for interest considering Dhofar contains two thirds of Oman's flora.

While the garden aims to educate and raise awareness about Oman's varied plant life, it does not intend to be only a scientific and educative experience. The Heritage Village in the garden weaves together strands of Omani hospitality, tourism and botanical heritage when it situates visitors in a traditional Omani village and acquaints them with the ways various plants were historically used for multiple purposes.

Visitors will be able to access this information through interactive workshops, panels and displays, witnessing and participating in live demonstrations of dyeing and basket-weaving, for instance. The increasing movement of people from rural to urban areas has raised the threat that such skills and knowledge, which once intimately bound people to their environment, could soon be lost.

It is through an initiative such as the Heritage Village that visitors become familiar and appreciative of Oman's rich ethno-botanical heritage.

While acquainting visitors with Omani plants and their habitats, the botanic garden is also placing them in the context of the community, thus providing an invaluable resource of information for present and future generations on how to respect and engage with the flora around them.

Priyanka Sacheti is an independent writer based in Muscat, Oman.