His Highness Shaikh Hamad bin Mohammad Al Sharqi, ruler of Fujairah, declared Wadi Wurayah Fujairah (WWF) a protected mountain.  It is the UAE’s first protected mountain.  The Emirates Wildlife Society and the Fujairah Municipality worked together with the support of the HSBC Bank Middle East ltd to assess the importance of WWF and establish it as a protected area.

WWF occupies 129 square kilometers in the northern part of Fujairah between Masafi, Khor Fakkan, and Bidiyah. Local communities have used its permanent water resource for thousands of years.  It is home to rare and endangered species including the Arabian Tahr and Arabian Leopard.