Abu Dhabi’s environment body has announced the start of the falconry season and laid out the rules that hunters must follow.
The Environment Agency Abu Dhabi (EAD), which oversees the regulation of hunting in the emirate, said this year's season will run from October 20 to January 20, with regulations in place to protect wildlife, safeguard the environment and support the ancient art of falconry.
Falconers must apply for a licence through the Abu Dhabi Unified Government Services System, known as Tamm.
Applicants must be UAE citizens, be at least 18 years old, and any falcons used must be registered with the Ministry of Climate Change and Environment.
Traditional land hunting is restricted to open areas of the Abu Dhabi emirate and is limited to falconry only, the EAD told The National. It must be done at least 2km from main and secondary roads, prohibited and private places, nature reserves, protected areas, forests, residential areas, and oil and military centres.
Hunting is permitted between sunrise and sunset and falconers with a licence are only allowed to hunt captive bred Houbara bustards. It is prohibited to hunt other wild animals, birds and reptiles, and cause a disturbance to them, the EAD said.
The rules also prohibit driving vehicles on vegetation and causing damage and the transfer of hunting licences to another person. The licence must be carried while hunting and presented to the authority, if requested. The environment must be kept clean and littering is not allowed.
The EAD said there was a great demand for falconry licences, with the agency regulating hunting since the 2021-2022 season. It has issued more than 9,300 falconry licences.
Falconry is an ancient sport and has been practised in the UAE and the Arabian Peninsula for thousands of years. Falcons were once essential for the survival of Bedouins in harsh desert conditions. While the basics are the same – a bird trained to hunt prey – the sport has transformed over the past few decades.
Captive breeding and hawk passports are now central to the world of falconry, helping to bring the birds of prey back from the brink of extinction. Falcons registered in the UAE are bred and raised in captivity.
Efforts have also been made to protect the houbara. In 2006, the International Fund for Houbara Conservation started a captive breeding programme that has seen tens of thousands of birds reintroduced in the wild.
Falcons are highly revered in the UAE. Enthusiasts from around the world visit the annual Adihex event in Abu Dhabi where falcon beauty contests and auctions are held. Last year, a prized falcon sold for Dh600,000 ($163,380) at the festival.
The year before, one bidder spent Dh1.01 million on a Pure Gyr American ultra-white falcon. The UAE has led global efforts to protect and preserve falconry.
In 2022, falconry’s inclusion on Unesco’s list of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity was extended to include six more countries. The UAE led the efforts of 24 countries to expand the list, which now includes Croatia, Ireland, Poland, the Netherlands, Slovakia and Kyrgyzstan.
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Formula 1 qualifying, 5pm
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Libya's Gold
UN Panel of Experts found regime secretly sold a fifth of the country's gold reserves.
The panel’s 2017 report followed a trail to West Africa where large sums of cash and gold were hidden by Abdullah Al Senussi, Qaddafi’s former intelligence chief, in 2011.
Cases filled with cash that was said to amount to $560m in 100 dollar notes, that was kept by a group of Libyans in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.
A second stash was said to have been held in Accra, Ghana, inside boxes at the local offices of an international human rights organisation based in France.
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if you go
The flights
Direct flights from the UAE to the Nepalese capital, Kathmandu, are available with Air Arabia, (www.airarabia.com) Fly Dubai (www.flydubai.com) or Etihad (www.etihad.com) from Dh1,200 return including taxes. The trek described here started from Jomson, but there are many other start and end point variations depending on how you tailor your trek. To get to Jomson from Kathmandu you must first fly to the lake-side resort town of Pokhara with either Buddha Air (www.buddhaair.com) or Yeti Airlines (www.yetiairlines.com). Both charge around US$240 (Dh880) return. From Pokhara there are early morning flights to Jomson with Yeti Airlines or Simrik Airlines (www.simrikairlines.com) for around US$220 (Dh800) return.
The trek
Restricted area permits (US$500 per person) are required for trekking in the Upper Mustang area. The challenging Meso Kanto pass between Tilcho Lake and Jomson should not be attempted by those without a lot of mountain experience and a good support team. An excellent trekking company with good knowledge of Upper Mustang, the Annaurpuna Circuit and Tilcho Lake area and who can help organise a version of the trek described here is the Nepal-UK run Snow Cat Travel (www.snowcattravel.com). Prices vary widely depending on accommodation types and the level of assistance required.
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Gearbox: 7-speed automatic
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Uefa Champions League final:
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Tax authority targets shisha levy evasion
The Federal Tax Authority will track shisha imports with electronic markers to protect customers and ensure levies have been paid.
Khalid Ali Al Bustani, director of the tax authority, on Sunday said the move is to "prevent tax evasion and support the authority’s tax collection efforts".
The scheme’s first phase, which came into effect on 1st January, 2019, covers all types of imported and domestically produced and distributed cigarettes. As of May 1, importing any type of cigarettes without the digital marks will be prohibited.
He said the latest phase will see imported and locally produced shisha tobacco tracked by the final quarter of this year.
"The FTA also maintains ongoing communication with concerned companies, to help them adapt their systems to meet our requirements and coordinate between all parties involved," he said.
As with cigarettes, shisha was hit with a 100 per cent tax in October 2017, though manufacturers and cafes absorbed some of the costs to prevent prices doubling.
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Education reform in Abu Dhabi
The emirate’s public education system has been in a constant state of change since the New School Model was launched in 2010 by the Abu Dhabi Education Council. The NSM, which is also known as the Abu Dhabi School Model, transformed the public school curriculum by introducing bilingual education starting with students from grades one to five. Under this new curriculum, the children spend half the day learning in Arabic and half in English – being taught maths, science and English language by mostly Western educated, native English speakers. The NSM curriculum also moved away from rote learning and required teachers to develop a “child-centered learning environment” that promoted critical thinking and independent learning. The NSM expanded by one grade each year and by the 2017-2018 academic year, it will have reached the high school level. Major reforms to the high school curriculum were announced in 2015. The two-stream curriculum, which allowed pupils to elect to follow a science or humanities course of study, was eliminated. In its place was a singular curriculum in which stem -- science, technology, engineering and maths – accounted for at least 50 per cent of all subjects. In 2016, Adec announced additional changes, including the introduction of two levels of maths and physics – advanced or general – to pupils in Grade 10, and a new core subject, career guidance, for grades 10 to 12; and a digital technology and innovation course for Grade 9. Next year, the focus will be on launching a new moral education subject to teach pupils from grades 1 to 9 character and morality, civic studies, cultural studies and the individual and the community.
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