Second-year Report—Sept. 2021. Ethnographic, genetic, and morphometric analyses of the date palm agrobiodiversity in al-‘Ulā oasis

– Vincent Battesti & Muriel Gros-Balthazard (2021) — « Second-year Report—Sept. 2021. Ethnographic, genetic, and morphometric analyses of the date palm agrobiodiversity in al-‘Ulā oasis » Annual Report to AFALULA, Paris, Montpellier, CNRS, IRD, 22 p.

⟶ Annual report for the al-‘Ulā DPA project.

– Purpose of the document:

The agrobiodiversity is a major asset for current challenges faced by local societies. It represents a fundamental resource for adapting agriculture to local and global changes. The diver- sity of crops, and in the present case the diversity of date palms in an oasis system, is con- stantly shaped by local populations according to their knowledge and expertise. Our project is entitled “Ethnographic, genetic, and morphometric analyses of the date palm agrobiodiversity in al-‘Ulā oasis” (so-called al-‘Ulā DPA project). It aims to address the biological and social dimensions together in order to describe and explain the agrobiodiversity of date palms in al- ‘Ulā oasis in Saudi Arabia. This document reports the progress made during the second year (October 2020—September 2021) of this project.

A date palm in Sharaan reserve, nearby al-‘Ulā, part of al-Ula DPA collection, Saudi Arabia, Sept. 14, 2021, by Vincent Battesti