Country

Oman: 8 ecoregions. Each with its climate now and toward 2050, and its conservation tier.

Eight ecoregions meet in Oman, and the pattern is desert plain interrupted by two remarkable exceptions. Most of the country falls in the Arabian sand desert, the South Arabian plains and plateau desert, and the Arabian-Persian Gulf coastal plain desert. The first exception is the Al-Hajar range in the north, whose foothill and montane woodlands and shrublands support genuine tree cover above the desert floor. The second is Dhofar in the south, where the South Arabian fog woodlands, shrublands, and dune ecoregion and the East Arabian fog shrublands and sand desert draw seasonal moisture from monsoon fog off the sea. Gardening follows those exceptions: oasis and irrigation culture on the plains, and a wider palette in the mountains and the fog-touched south.