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
Last week I had the opportunity to speak with over 200 young people from the UAE. As a mother of five young boys, I was interested in the virtual sessions that were a part of Connect with Nature, a programme which encourages youngsters to help protect the environment.
One discussion – part of the 'Reimagine Youth Circle Series' – was about inviting youth to think of life post Covid-19. These were all enlightening conversations. One was on devising ways to work with decision makers in the government and private sector to drive change.
The one closest to my heart, however, was the discussion on learning from the past and saving for the future; a talk that focused on how to balance modern life, keep Emirati traditions alive and protect the integrity of our ecosystems.
My relationship with nature began at an early age as I grew up watching my father, who to me, was a naturalist. The way he took care of our plants despite the excessive heat and humidity taught me three lessons.
I learnt the importance of resources and how using them judiciously made a difference and affected the survivability of living things.
I learnt to appreciate the balance that exists in nature and how tampering with any one aspect alters the health and integrity of another.
The third lesson I imbibed from father was the value of hard work and how ones’ own efforts make a big difference.
These lessons guide me in my work and personal life and I try to pass them on to my children. All of us have opportunities to learn from our elders. We are often in fact defined by such life lessons and they affect what we do as individuals, communities and societies.
One day our generation will retire and it will be up to the youth of today to step in
I am blessed to be born in a country where the leaders value culture and traditions as much as they do development. As I learnt from my father, I also learnt a lot from our Founding Father, the late Sheikh Zayed. He was a great visionary and a passionate naturalist who left a lasting impression on our Emirati national and cultural identity.
As Emiratis, we take lot of pride in our traditions and try to ensure that this intangible cultural heritage is preserved for posterity. From falconry to hunting with saluki dogs, to camel racing and pearling – these are all part of our natural and cultural heritage. Thanks to the efforts of the UAE, falconry was recognised as an Intangible Cultural Heritage by Unesco in 2010.
Our water channels are a wonderful example of how we have managed to preserve our natural traditions. Water has always been an especially valuable resource in the desert. And our irrigation system, Aflaj dates back to 3,000 years ago. Sheikh Zayed cared about water channels and even helped dig some when the traditional system was renovated in 1946. Much of Al Ain's greenery today is attributed to the same Aflaj system.
Taking into account such traditional practices bears on how we address important local issues, such as over exploited fisheries and overgrazing by camels. At the Environment Agency – Abu Dhabi (EAD) we collate the knowledge of fishermen and herders and integrate it with science.
Desert animals
Just last week the government issued a law to regulate grazing in Abu Dhabi and preserve natural areas. Through our community partners, we will continue to encourage owners of camel farms to return to more traditional practices of grazing, which will allow shrubbery to naturally regenerate and flourish.
A baby camel grazes in the Abu Dhabi desert, April 23. Chris Whiteoak / The National
Traditional examples of grazing include: rotational grazing where animals graze in one area for a short while before moving to a different area. Additionally, in the past herds were much smaller and according to narrators of our oral history narrators, families had 20-30 camels while today there are 200-300 in some cases for one family.
Following old traditions meant that benefits were shared across the entire community, not just for one family. Another solution to overgrazing is seasonal grazing during the rainy season, and travelling to other regions and the communal sharing of groundwater resources.
Camels in Umm Al Quwain, March 11. Chris Whiteoak / The National
This sort of knowledge of the natural world has been collected over decades. The past is, after all, a part of our identity and we must try to protect it. Our elders have for generations lived closely with nature and learnt about the natural world. We have to preserve that wisdom that they have passed down to us so that we, in turn, can share that with the younger generations.
As our leaders engineered to protect our cultural heritage, they were also instrumental in the preservation of our natural heritage. The story of the Arabian Oryx is one of the best examples; 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, including over 850 that roam freely in the Arabian Oryx Protected Area in Abu Dhabi.
Another story that is particularly close to my heart is the creation of Al Wathba Wetland Reserve in Abu Dhabi. The accidental release of a small amount of water from the nearby sewerage treatment plant attracted some bird species, including flamingos. Attempts were made to breed these birds but those were not successful.
The late Sheikh Zayed ordered the area to be protected by the Abu Dhabi Police and to be managed by us at EAD in 1998. Today, the reserve is the only breeding site for flamingos in the Arabian Gulf and recognised globally as Ramsar Site by the Ramsar Convention and on the green list of the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
It is one example of how we live in an interconnected world. Every organism, big or small, interacts directly or indirectly with other elements of that ecosystem. It is time we learn to appreciate the delicate balance and be mindful that human activities can disrupt it.
At EAD we are trying to do just that – maintain that balance by protecting all elements of our environment. Our network of 19 protected areas under the Sheikh Zayed Protected Area network protects some of the most iconic species; from the Arabian Oryx to the houbara, from dugongs to turtles, from coral reefs and small insect species to flamingos.
We at EAD can provide all the information that one needs to learn how to behave with respect to the environment, but individual contributions are equally important. One day our generation will retire and it will be up to the youth of today to step in.
They have a responsibility to learn about our nature and our culture and to pass on that knowledge to the next generation. They have the intelligence and access to the most advanced technologies and I am confident that they will shoulder this responsibility well.
Dr Shaikha Salem Al Dhaheri is secretary-general of Environment Agency – Abu Dhabi
SolarWinds supply chain attack: Came to light in December 2020 but had taken root for several months, compromising major tech companies, governments and its entities
Microsoft Exchange server exploitation: March 2021; attackers used a vulnerability to steal emails
Kaseya attack: July 2021; ransomware hit perpetrated REvil, resulting in severe downtime for more than 1,000 companies
Log4j breach: December 2021; attackers exploited the Java-written code to inflitrate businesses and governments
Cinco in numbers
Dh3.7 million
The estimated cost of Victoria Swarovski’s gem-encrusted Michael Cinco wedding gown
46
The number, in kilograms, that Swarovski’s wedding gown weighed.
1,000
The hours it took to create Cinco’s vermillion petal gown, as seen in his atelier [note, is the one he’s playing with in the corner of a room]
50
How many looks Cinco has created in a new collection to celebrate Ballet Philippines’ 50th birthday
3,000
The hours needed to create the butterfly gown worn by Aishwarya Rai to the 2018 Cannes Film Festival.
1.1 million
The number of followers that Michael Cinco’s Instagram account has garnered.
How tumultuous protests grew
A fuel tax protest by French drivers appealed to wider anti-government sentiment
Unlike previous French demonstrations there was no trade union or organised movement involved
Demonstrators responded to online petitions and flooded squares to block traffic
At its height there were almost 300,000 on the streets in support
Named after the high visibility jackets that drivers must keep in cars
Clashes soon turned violent as thousands fought with police at cordons
An estimated two dozen people lost eyes and many others were admitted to hospital
Top tips to avoid cyber fraud
Microsoft’s ‘hacker-in-chief’ David Weston, creator of the tech company’s Windows Red Team, advises simple steps to help people avoid falling victim to cyber fraud:
1. Always get the latest operating system on your smartphone or desktop, as it will have the latest innovations. An outdated OS can erode away all investments made in securing your device or system.
2. After installing the latest OS version, keep it patched; this means repairing system vulnerabilities which are discovered after the infrastructure components are released in the market. The vast majority of attacks are based on out of date components – there are missing patches.
3. Multi-factor authentication is required. Move away from passwords as fast as possible, particularly for anything financial. Cybercriminals are targeting money through compromising the users’ identity – his username and password. So, get on the next level of security using fingertips or facial recognition.
4. Move your personal as well as professional data to the cloud, which has advanced threat detection mechanisms and analytics to spot any attempt. Even if you are hit by some ransomware, the chances of restoring the stolen data are higher because everything is backed up.
5. Make the right hardware selection and always refresh it. We are in a time where a number of security improvement processes are reliant on new processors and chip sets that come with embedded security features. Buy a new personal computer with a trusted computing module that has fingerprint or biometric cameras as additional measures of protection.
Ministry of Interior Ministry of Defence General Intelligence Directorate Air Force Intelligence Agency Political Security Directorate Syrian National Security Bureau Military Intelligence Directorate Army Supply Bureau General Organisation of Radio and TV Al Watan newspaper Cham Press TV Sama TV
Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
Premier League-standard football pitch
400m Olympic running track
NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
600-seat auditorium
Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
Specialist robotics and science laboratories
AR and VR-enabled learning centres
Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
Electric scooters: some rules to remember
Riders must be 14-years-old or over
Wear a protective helmet
Park the electric scooter in designated parking lots (if any)
Do not leave electric scooter in locations that obstruct traffic or pedestrians
Solo riders only, no passengers allowed
Do not drive outside designated lanes
BUNDESLIGA FIXTURES
Saturday (UAE kick-off times)
Cologne v Union Berlin (5.30pm)
Fortuna Dusseldorf v Borussia Dortmund (5.30pm)
Hertha Berlin v Eintracht Frankfurt (5.30pm)
Paderborn v Werder Bremen (5.30pm)
Wolfsburg v Freiburg (5.30pm)
Bayern Munich v Borussia Monchengladbach (8.30pm)
Sunday
Mainz v Augsburg (5.30pm)
Schalke v Bayer Leverkusen (8pm)
Tips for job-seekers
Do not submit your application through the Easy Apply button on LinkedIn. Employers receive between 600 and 800 replies for each job advert on the platform. If you are the right fit for a job, connect to a relevant person in the company on LinkedIn and send them a direct message.
Make sure you are an exact fit for the job advertised. If you are an HR manager with five years’ experience in retail and the job requires a similar candidate with five years’ experience in consumer, you should apply. But if you have no experience in HR, do not apply for the job.
David Mackenzie, founder of recruitment agency Mackenzie Jones Middle East
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.
