#assad serhal

A Tradition of Conservation

Written by: Tom Verde

Photographed by: Pascal Beaudenon

Early in the seventh century, soon after Muslims established themselves in what is now the holy city of Madinah (formerly Yathrib), the Prophet Muhammad surveyed the natural resources in the region—the wadis (riverbeds); the rich, black volcanic soil; thHimae high rangelands—and decreed that they be preserved and set aside as a hima, an…

International Day of Biodiversity: HIMA Revival to Stop Nature Bankruptcy and Promote Sustainable Livelihood, Human Wellbeing and Human Rights

Hima, literally meaning “a protected place” in Arabic, is a traditional system of resource tenure that has originated in the Arabian Peninsula 1500 years ago and spread all over the West Asia and North Africa (WANA) region. In response to the harsh environmental conditions and resource scarcity characterizing that region, tribes announced resource-rich areas as Hima, customarily held and…

SPNL mourns the loss of A Rocha Co-Founder Miranda Harris and CEO Chris Naylor

The Society for protection of Nature in Lebanon is grieving the loss of some of its most prominent partners after the top leaders of A Rocha International—cofounders Peter and Miranda Harris and CEO Chris Naylor and his wife Susanna—suffered a fatal car crash on Monday.

“SPNL mourns the loss of great partners that helped in protecting the environment of our beloved country and in highlighting the…

Hima Hammana Bird counting: Birdlife partners from three countries are helping students to become a skilled birdwatchers

Bird counting has begun today in Hima Hammana with the Swiss and Swedish birders. Students from Ras el Maten visited the site and participated in this charming activity. They learned about this amazing phenomenon happening on the Lebanese skies every autumn! everyone can learn to count and identify flying eagles, buzzards, kites, storks and other birds. Join and listen to bird migration experts…

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H.E. Zhang Xinsheng showed great interest and congratulated SPNL on its Hima revival efforts that gained national and international recognition including IUCN motion 122.

Motion 122, Promoting and supporting community resource management and conservation as a foundation for sustainable development, was presented by Ministry of Environment- Austria and SPNL- Lebanon and co-sponsored by several NGO’s, was adopted with +95% of positive votes during 5th IUCN World Conservation Congress, in 2012.

  The new resolution # 122 will facilitate and enhance a broad exchange of information on current community resource management programs and systems. in addition to, their levels of success, or reasons for failure to take place among practitioners, relevant interest groups and international conservation and development organizations. The emphasis should be placed on capacity building to contribute to the further development of community resource management programs.

The new resolution focuses on the importance of developing and implementing broad policy coherence amongst Multilateral Environmental Agreements and conservation organizations which would be beneficial for the conservation of terrestrial biodiversity through community resource management programs.

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The resolution also recognizes the various forms and names of Community Conservation, such as Al Hima (ﺍﻟﺣﻣﻰ), Mahjar, Agdal, Qoroq, Adat or any similar systems of community-based management present in West Asia and North Africa, as a holistic approach that empowers local and traditional knowledge, culture and heritage, including the conservation of natural resources and a boost to livelihoods.

SPNL ( Birdlife Lebanon ) is the first IUCN member from Lebanon , where SPNL current CEO & Founding member of both SPNL & ACS , and first manager of Alshouf Cedar Reserve 1996-2001 , welcomed H.E. and assistants & Dr.Hany El Shaer Director of IUCN office at Amman , and Mis Ola Mallah , where he explained that he 1st joined IUCN as consultant Year 1981, and then introduced IUCN to SPNL year 1984 , and later LEF Environment NGO members & the Lebanese ministry of Environment year 1993 , where together proposed & initiated Lebanon’s 1st three protected areas project, where IUCN helped secure the needed funding from GEF and project initiated Year 1996 . http://www.birdlife .org

SPNL President Affaf Osseiran Saidi, welcomed our honorary guests and explained on our 4 decades partnership with IUCN & Birdlife International, and thanked them for their continued support to our Himas & nature & people of Lebanon.

Jamal Hamzieh gave a ppt highlighting SPNL main accomplishments in the last year , with Special focus on our running MAVA Founded Project Shouf BioSphere Reserve in partnership with AlShouf Cedar Society , using the SPNL revived Hima approach in partnership and support over the Years from IUCN , Birdlife International , EU , UNDP & UN-Women , CEPF , Japan Embassy , LUSH , GIZ , EuroNature , mercy corps , GEF and many other National & International partners and organizations , and respected ministries of Interior , Environment , Agriculture & Tourism , in addition to over than 25 municipalities from All regions of Lebanon , in Important Birds & Biodiversity Areas ( IBBAs ) and Key Biodiversity Areas ( KBAs ) of International & National importance .

First confirmed breeding of two bird species and other interesting records for Lebanon

GHASSAN RAMADAN-JARADI, FOUAD ITANI, BASSEL ABI JUMMAA, ASSAD SERHAL, MAHER OSTA, SAMER AZAR & MAHER ROUHANA

Summary: The known status of seven bird species in Lebanon has changed, chiefly during the last two years. Of these, Great Crested Grebe and Goldcrest have bred for the first time in the country and Lesser Crested Tern has reappeared after it was considered extinct in Lebanon for more…

SPNL participated in the Birdlife 65th Global Council Meeting

Assad Serhal the Director General of SPNL (Birdlife Lebanon) participated in the Birdlife 65th Global Council Meeting held from 17th – 19th June 2019 at David Attenborough Building, Cambridge, UK

BirdLife International is the world’s largest Partnership of national civil society nature Conservation organizations and the world leader in bird conservation, represented in 118 countries and…

Ibrahim Khader, Regional Director of Birdlife Middle East Secretariat and Assad Serhal, Director-General of SPNL (BirdLife Lebanon) presented the president with BirdLife’s trophy to thank him for promoting responsible hunting of migratory birds and for his role in nature conservation in Lebanon.

Among the attendees were First Lady Nadia Al Chami Aoun, Minister of Telecommunications Mohammad Choucair, Minister of Justice Albert Sarhan, and a number of ambassadors, government representatives, environmentalists and general directors, along with the President’s special advisor Claudine Aoun Roukoz.

“Today, we celebrate the launch of “migratory birds” postage stamps hoping to educate people about these birds in order to make Lebanon, a safe haven for them.” The president said at the event. “Despite signing the U.N. Convention on Biodiversity in 1992, Lebanon is still considered a dangerous zone in which birds lose their lives and, which is no longer acceptable,” he added.

Aoun pointed out that Lebanese hunters took little notice of international and Lebanese hunting laws such as Law 580, which outlines the types of species and hunting materials that are permitted. He said “The hunting of storks, hoopoes, bee-eaters, partridges, sparrows, golden orioles and short-toed creepers was internationally banned” urging the Lebanese community to protect these birds during the migration season.

“Respecting the laws of nature is not a luxury,” President Aoun said. “The “human, animal and plant worlds must live in perfect harmony, otherwise there will be disastrous effects for all three, and any fault in these worlds impact negatively on the others. The desert is the best example, where there is no life for the flora and thus none for humans and none for fauna,” he continued.

Source: By Dima Obeidat https://www.birdlife.org

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