TheImprovement ofTropical and Subtropical Rangelands

THE BEMA SYSTEM IN THE ARABIAN PENINSULA 327
or marah, have been developed by the local people over countless
decades and could not successfully be replaced by systems planned
for different environmental and sociological conditions. In Syria, the
result has been nearly complete denudation of its highly productive
range and forest lands and a loss of about one million goats.
A mahmia system of grazing, called Icoze, has been traced along
the Syrian-Turkish-Iraqi borders. Various Icozat in the areas of AI
Qamishli, Makekizeh, 'Ayn Diwar, and Tall Kushik (rainfall4~500
mm) were visited. In principle, there appears to be no difference in
the methods of maintenance and utilization for such reserves. Tribal
tradition is adequate for controlling rights and responsibilities.
The local people usually are reluctant to give information about
the Icozat, fearing that they may lose their right of use because of
government intervention. Inspection of a reserve southeast of 'Ayn
Diwar, close to the Iraqi frontier, showed the plant cover to consist
mainly of Chr1lsopogon 1'1111.... (shafer), PalarU tuberosa (giachon),
and Hordeum bulbo,um (lcorram). Shafer is highly rated by the local
shepherds, owing to its high palatability and long season of &fowth,
especially during the drier season of the year. Its voluminous, deep
root system also has &feat value as a soil binder.
Tribal tradition allows most of these reserves to be grazed only
during the winter season, between mid-December and the end of
March. Areas where shafer and/or giachon constitute most of the
plant cover may be grazed in the summer season, however.
There is evidence that a number of native and/or exotic perennial
piants that have proven successful at the Himo Experiment Station
(AI Qamishli) could be tried for reseeding and expanding programs
of the kozat system of grazing in this and adjacent regions in Turkey,
Iraq, and Iran.
Another type of hema has also been observed in the Hassia-Breig
region, located south of Homs between the main roads to Damascus
and the Lebanese borders. This unique range reserve, which covers a
surface area of about 40,000 hectares of rough, poor soils, was, until
1958, part of a feudal system of land tenure that came to an end
through the enforcement of a land reform act. The system of grazing
in this vast hema had been organized through permits for grazing
rights to be given to the shepherds belonging to the adjacent villages,
against a fixed rental value of about SPI per goat or sheep per season
(that is, about US$1 per four animals). Since this hema is considered
to be potential forest or subforest land, it was confiscated by the
government and has been transferred to the Forest Department.