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I must express a quiet note of satisfaction in that the relevant World Heritage website's page about Oman provides a link to my photos of aflaj in the newsbriefsoman gallery.

The announcement that Oman's aflaj system had joined Unesco's other 830 global world heritage sites came on the 13th of July this year, although the bid had been long in the running. Oman held a conference as long ago as May 2002 to gain international support for the recommendation. The International Conference on the Development and Management of Water Conveyance Systems (aflaj) was held under the auspices of Dr Khamis bin Mubarak Al Alawi, the then minister of regional municipalities, environment and water resources and was attended by "ministers, undersecretaries, officials from brotherly and friendly countries and representatives of participating regional and international organisations." Times of Oman, 20th May 2002.

I suspect that efforts to give Omani aflaj World Heritage status began long before that, during the incumbency of the now defunct Ministry of Water Resources, since the World Heritage inscription refers to the Ministry of Water Resources, and the maps defining the area of each falaj were produced in the GIS unit of the ministry between 1998 to 2000.

More recently, in April 2005, a former boss of mine raised the issue once more at a meeting in Russia to revise the executive regulations of the World Heritage Pact.

The wheels of bureaucracy grind exceeding slow.

Just five of Oman's 3,000 aflaj have been nominated, of which four are dawoodi (daoudi) aflaj, and one is aini. See my notes in an earlier entry for definitions. They are:

- Falaj Al-Khatmeen (dawoodi) - Birkat al Mauz
- Falaj Al-Malki (dawoodi) - Izki
- Falaj Daris (dawoodi) - Nizwa
- Falaj Al-Jeela (aini) - Sur
- Falaj Al-Muyassar (dawoodi) - Rustaq

(Gulf News, 11th December 2006, quotes Zahir Bin Khalil Al Sulaimani, Director General of Water Resources Affairs in MRMEWR, as saying that "currently 4,112 aflaj exist in Oman with an annual flow of 680 million cubic metres of water.")

The summary of the inscription states that these particular aflaj have been selected because they preserve the integrity of the entire falaj water management system, and also because they are subject to control by the Ministry of (Regional Municipalities, Environment and) Water Resources. That means that they remain a working, and viable water supply, despite drops in the groundwater table or supply of water to the spring in the case of Falaj Al-Jeela. Each falaj system preserves a network of watch towers to defend the community water supply as well as other buildings listed in association with the aflaj such as mosques, houses, sundials, and water auction buildings.

It is worth reading the detailed inscription from Unesco to understand the background and history of the aflaj system, which recent evidence apparently suggests may have been adopted by the Persians to build their qanat, rather than the other way round. The oldest aflaj, of which remains can be found in the vicinity of Bahla, are believed to be 2,500 years old.

The authenticity of these irrigation systems is in no doubt. Aflaj is the plural of falaj. In classical Arabic falaj means to divide into shares and to share equitably so that the aflaj system shares a scarce resource, water, to ensure sustainability of the community. This remains the hallmark of this irrigation system. Water is channelled from underground sources, wadis or springs to support agriculture and domestic use, often over many kilometres.

Oman proposed the aflaj system to Unesco on the basis of criteria ii, iv and v of outstanding universal value.

Criterion (ii) is defined as: "to exhibit an important interchange of human values, over a span of time or within a cultural area of the world, on developments in architecture or technology, monumental arts, town-planning or landscape design."

The aflaj system meets this criterion on the basis of its 'considerable antiquity' and its continuing socio-economic benefit. However, ICOMOS (the International Council on Monuments and Sites) which evaluates proposals for World Heritage Site status felt that insufficient documentation was available to prove the antiquity of the system, and would like to see more documentary evidence.

Criterion (iv) is defined as: "to be an outstanding example of a type of building, architectural or technological ensemble or landscape which illustrates (a) significant stage(s) in human history. "

ICOMOS accepted that the irrigation system underpinned settlement which in turn underpinned the development of a successful state in the region - yet this was also true for other countries in the region. More evidence needed to be provided to justify why the five chosen aflaj were truly representative of this larger picture.

Criterion (v) is defined as: "to be an outstanding example of a traditional human settlement, land-use, or sea-use which is representative of a culture (or cultures), or human interaction with the environment especially when it has become vulnerable under the impact of irreversible change."

ICOMOS accepted this criterion fully, since the sites are threatened by a lowering water table and are an exceptionally well-preserved form of land use.

The aflaj of Oman were not accounted by ICOMOS as being more technically sophisticated than other examples in the world, nor that they represented early use of this technology, but they are remarkably well-preserved.

ICOMOS recommended that:

- traditional mortar be used to repair aflaj. Observers had noted that where concrete had been used to repair aflaj, it was becoming unstuck from the older mortar used underneath. Therefore it would be prudent to use traditional ways of making such mortar to conserve the walls and channels of the aflaj.
- consideration be given to preserving settlement patterns and key structures, which are at risk of being over-run by modern town-building. Management plans to regulate building and land-use change in the area of the falaj should be drawn up, possibly by extending the concept of the falaj committees with the support of the Ministry of Heritage and Culture. Currently, the water channels are protected but not the key structures within the falaj community. Short-term action is needed to stabilise buildings which have already suffered substantial decay.
- management plans also need to consider how access and information could be provided to tourists wishing to see this World Heritage Site, compatible with traditional uses.

The evaluation is actually dated April 2006. Quite how Oman managed to reassure the assessors that it would meet its equivocations, so that the aflaj did enter the World Heritage list, is a little obscure, but full marks to those who persevered.

As my own small gesture, I am appending here a generic sketch of the layout of the falaj system and how it serves the community, which appeared in 'The Water Resources of the Sultanate of Oman' published by the Ministry of Water Resources in 1995.

This information comes in turn from a very detailed research study entitled, "Water and tribal settlement in southeast Arabia: a study of the aflaj of Oman" by J C Wilkinson, published 1977 by Oxford University Press.