Scholte said highways like this - and others which bypass villages rather than connect them - were eyesores hugely damaging to the environment and to Socotra's tourist potential.

"For example, the road to the northeast goes through a very narrow coastal plain, destroying the dune landscape and a couple of very nice camping sites that attract hundreds of tourists. So you are killing the goose that lays the golden egg."

Not many tourists find their way to Socotra, which has only basic guest houses and campsites, but 3,000 are expected this year, up from 2,500 in 2007 and 1,600 the previous year.

Iryani, the environment minister, ruled out mass tourism on an island in mid-ocean that has little water and no respite from seasonal winds that batter its shores from May to September.

"It can be an eco-tourism destination, if managed well, for people interested in biodiversity, culture, flora," he said.

Iryani is among the conservationists fighting other ministries over road plans for Socotra - in principle no new ones can now be built without meeting environmental criteria. "These roads are motivated by contracts, not the needs of the people. This is part of the corruption we are fighting in Yemen," Iryani said of plans for a ring road around Socotra.

The island's myriad goats pose another environmental threat to Socotra's 900 plant species, a third of which are endemic.

"A lot of species are vulnerable or endangered, mostly due to lack of regeneration," said Nadim Taleb, SCDP's site manager. "Goats are eating the young trees, except the poisonous ones."

Socotra's traditional way of life is crumbling under the onslaught of modernity kept largely at bay until north and south Yemen united in 1990 and the new airport was built in 1999.

Schools teach only in Arabic, not Socotri, an unwritten tongue. Mobile telephones and satellite television dishes are spreading, fuelling unrealistic demand for consumer goods. Many Socotris have acquired a qat habit - qat is a mild stimulant drug popular in mainland Yemen, but new to Socotra.

In Homhill, Abdullah Ali manages a campsite in a protected area in rugged mountains where villagers peddle dried Dragon's Blood sap and frankincense to occasional foreign visitors.

"Some changes have improved the lives of locals who act as guides or sell handicrafts and incense," Ali said. "We are used to a poor life, looking after livestock far from the market in the city. The government has built a school and I hope my children will be teachers or doctors to help the community."

(Shanghai Daily May 5, 2008)