The UAE's Founding Father Sheikh Zayed was a passionate naturalist determined to see his land bloom. Courtesy Al Ittihad
The story of the Arabian Oryx is one of the best examples of the preservation of our natural heritage; a species hunted to near extinction revived through the pioneering initiatives of Sheikh Zayed. Due to his foresight, there are nearly 5,000 Arabian Oryx in Abu Dhabi alone.
Much of Al Ain’s greenery today is attributed to Aflaj, the water channels that are an example of UAE's cultural heritage. Chris Whiteoak / The National
Thanks to the efforts of the UAE, falconry was recognised as an Intangible Cultural Heritage by Unesco in 2010. Hamdan Bin Mohammed Heritage Center’s Fazza Championship for Falconry - Telwah, January 2020. Reem Mohammed/The National
Thousands of flamingos visit the Al Wathba Wetland Reserve in winter. Courtesy Environment Agency Abu Dhabi
It has been over four decades since I started to study the UAE’s environment, fauna and flora. When I began, the few others who were out in the field were mainly members of the country’s first environmental non-governmental organisation, the Emirates Natural History Group. An even smaller number were campaigning for conservation.
There was, it is true, encouragement from the very top. The UAE's Founding Father, Sheikh Zayed, had already emerged as a powerful advocate of conservation. This included measures on land such as the commencement of a captive breeding programme for the Arabian Oryx, which had become extinct in the wild. However, there were also steps being taken to conserve the marine environment.
I recall a speech Sheikh Zayed gave at the first-ever International Conference of Falconry and Conservation in 1977, when he announced a suite of measures designed to protect the environment.
One was an immediate ban on the use of dynamite for fishing, a highly-destructive practice introduced a few years earlier and which was causing severe damage to all native fish species.
In those early years, before there were any government organisations devoted to the environment, being an advocate for conservation was often a depressing task. Yes, those of us who were involved had the thrill of being able to discover and record species of plants and animals in the Emirates. At the same time, however, we observed practices that were enormously damaging to the environment.
Much has changed – a far cry from the days when I began to study the local environment
In recent decades, much has changed. A large share of the credit goes to the various government agencies, like the Ministry for Climate Change and the Environment and local bodies like the Environment Agency – Abu Dhabi (EAD), and Sharjah's Environment and Protected Areas Authority. While the latter is responsible for carrying out a raft of legislation, they also encourage research programmes.
Scarcely a month goes by without a discovery, whether it be finding one of the rarest birds in the world, a Steppe Whimbrel, another new plant species for the Emirates or the arrival and rescue of an endangered whale shark in Abu Dhabi's Al Raha area.
The protection of our environment continues to gather pace as our nature reserves prove their worth in mountain areas like Wadi Wurayah in Fujairah or in the desert Baynuna area of Abu Dhabi’s Al Dhafra region. At the same time, programmes to reintroduce endangered wildlife are flourishing, like that for the Arabian Oryx, of which the UAE now has a large proportion of the global population.
Wadi Wurayah in Fujairah. Silvia Razgova / The National
Conservation is no longer a niche interest of concern to a few. It is, instead, as Sheikh Zayed wished, not just a part of policy but an interest for many in the country.
Two recent announcements also show how the UAE’s engagement with conservation has broadened, both locally and internationally.
Umbrella Thorn Acacia trees will be among the UAE species documented at the Plant Genetics Resources Centre. Silvia Razgova / The National
At home, the Baynuna conservation area was initially declared as a protected area to enable the reintroduction of captive-bred houbara. Recent studies by EAD have shown, however, that it is also home to another locally-endangered species, the sand cat. Now it has been selected as the release site for another batch of Arabian Oryx.
The Baynuna area is a good example of the way in which conservation of a habitat can be beneficial across a whole range of species, not just the one for which it was originally designated. Further discoveries will no doubt follow.
Conservation, though, is not just something that can be viewed through the lens of a single country. It presents a global challenge.
The Society, whose director Dominic Jermey was British Ambassador to the Emirates between 2010 and 2014, is perhaps best known because of its flagship projects like London Zoo. It also has a worldwide scientific and conservation programme.
Announcing the collaboration, Reem Al Hashimy, director general of Expo 2020 Dubai Bureau and Minister of State for International Co-operation, noted that the Society’s “global work on animal and habitat conservation will help shape our thought-provoking content and conversations,” engaging participants and visitors “on the greatest climate and biodiversity-related challenges of our time to create a lasting legacy of global environmental conservation for decades to come.”
Initiatives at home have seen the UAE rising up the global Environmental Performance Index, where this year the country is the top-ranked performer among the Arab countries of the Middle East.
Initiatives overseas have shown that the UAE recognises that the topic is of global, not just local concern.
It is a far cry from the days when I began to study the local environment, but one which I heartily welcome.
Peter Hellyer is a UAE cultural historian and columnist for The National
December 2014: Former UK finance minister George Osbourne reforms stamp duty, replacing the slab system with a blended rate scheme, with the top rate increasing to 12 per cent from 10 per cent:
Up to £125,000 - 0%; £125,000 to £250,000 – 2%; £250,000 to £925,000 – 5%; £925,000 to £1.5m: 10%; Over £1.5m – 12%
April 2016: New 3% surcharge applied to any buy-to-let properties or additional homes purchased.
July 2020: Rishi Sunak unveils SDLT holiday, with no tax to pay on the first £500,000, with buyers saving up to £15,000.
March 2021: Mr Sunak decides the fate of SDLT holiday at his March 3 budget, with expectations he will extend the perk unti June.
April 2021: 2% SDLT surcharge added to property transactions made by overseas buyers.
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024. It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine. Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages]. The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts. With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians. Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved. Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world. The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
Saturday, August 3 - First T20i, Amstelveen
Monday, August 5 – Second T20i, Amstelveen
Tuesday, August 6 – Third T20i, Voorburg
Thursday, August 8 – Fourth T20i, Vooryburg
Priority access to new homes from participating developers
Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
Flexible payment plans from developers
Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
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Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
Various Artists
Habibi Funk: An Eclectic Selection Of Music From The Arab World (Habibi Funk)
The most expensive investment mistake you will ever make
When is the best time to start saving in a pension? The answer is simple – at the earliest possible moment. The first pound, euro, dollar or dirham you invest is the most valuable, as it has so much longer to grow in value. If you start in your twenties, it could be invested for 40 years or more, which means you have decades for compound interest to work its magic.
“You get growth upon growth upon growth, followed by more growth. The earlier you start the process, the more it will all roll up,” says Chris Davies, chartered financial planner at The Fry Group in Dubai.
This table shows how much you would have in your pension at age 65, depending on when you start and how much you pay in (it assumes your investments grow 7 per cent a year after charges and you have no other savings).
Age
$250 a month
$500 a month
$1,000 a month
25
$640,829
$1,281,657
$2,563,315
35
$303,219
$606,439
$1,212,877
45
$131,596
$263,191
$526,382
55
$44,351
$88,702
$177,403
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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Fines for littering
In Dubai:
Dh200 for littering or spitting in the Dubai Metro
Dh500 for throwing cigarette butts or chewing gum on the floor, or littering from a vehicle.
Dh1,000 for littering on a beach, spitting in public places, throwing a cigarette butt from a vehicle
In Sharjah and other emirates
Dh500 for littering - including cigarette butts and chewing gum - in public places and beaches in Sharjah
Dh2,000 for littering in Sharjah deserts
Dh500 for littering from a vehicle in Ras Al Khaimah
Dh1,000 for littering from a car in Abu Dhabi
Dh1,000 to Dh100,000 for dumping waste in residential or public areas in Al Ain
Dh10,000 for littering at Ajman's beaches
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
