The importance of Oman as an important point in the global routes of migratory shorebirds is being discussed at the three-day international conference organised by the Centre for Environmental Studies and Research (CESAR) which began on Monday at Sultan Qaboos University. In his opening remark, Dr Mushtaque Ahmed, director of CESAR said that this conference is focusing on the West Asian-East African flyway, in which Barr al Hikman, a large pristine coastal wetland in Oman, falls. It is one of the world’s most undisturbed tropical intertidal ecosystems which an estimated 1mn migratory shorebirds use every year. “It is important to raise awareness about the West Asian-East African flyway for the sake of world’s biodiversity,” he said, as for millions of migratory shorebirds, temperate and tropical wetlands play a crucial role as stopovers along their migratory routes. Arctic shorebirds wintering on the West Asian-East African flyway are Broad-billed sandpiper, Bar-tailed Godwit and the Great Knot. “This shows that Oman is a wintering site for birds of both western and eastern origin and no other site in the Middle East hosts comparable numbers of birds during winters,” he added.