The Newsletter of the AUB - Nature Conservation Center September, 2014 - August, 2015
Issue No. 35
Editorial In praise of the native During a visit to Baghdad in 2011, I was struck by the changes that had engulfed the city of my birth. People struggled to cope with everyday life; unending delays at checkpoints, the ever-present threat of car bombs and worst of all, the stifling reality of a segregated society in a city that was once known for the diversity of its citizens. I was in awe of the ability of people to adapt and endure, and their will to survive. Saddened as I was to witness human hardship, I was delighted to see the abundance of nabug trees (Ziziphus spina-christi, Arabic Sidr). A native of arid lands in the eastern Mediterranean, the nabug is a hardy tree that thrives in the summer when temperatures exceed 50 degrees centigrade. The hundred-year-old nabug tree in our garden has a canopy 18 meters wide. Its small leaves and lacy canopy filter just enough sunrays to maintain a cool shade in the summer and to trap the warmth of the rays of winter. The fruit is small-applelike with a taste favored by Baghdadis and not different from the Lebanese Ziziphus jujube known as innab. The
nabug is a blessed tree in the Quran, its thorny branches having been woven to form the crown of Christ. Iraqi folk tradition has it that bad fortune follows those who cut the tree and in the rare cases when a tree must be felled, alms are distributed to the poor in retribution. Myth and folk traditions thus protect the nabug tree, most probably because, before the British introduced the Australian gum tree (Eucalyptus spp.), it was among the only two trees that could withstand the hot urban environment, along with the date palm.
Editorial - In praise of the native
What caused these solitary trees to erupt in such numbers? The answer is simple: The city being encumbered by more serious concerns than beautification, green area upkeep slackened. Without special care, the roses disappeared, the hedges and parterres withered and so did the ornamental trees planted and maintained by the municipality. Meanwhile, requiring no care, nabug tree saplings grew taller and stronger, gradually replacing the dying exotics – the native saplings must have been weeded as part of garden maintenance, to be eliminated as competition for the exotic ornamentals. I feasted my eyes on nabug trees that had taken over the city, occupying traffic medians, towering over sidewalks and gracing roundabouts. Will the people of Baghdad in the midst of their daily struggle notice the profusion of nabug trees? Will they appreciate that the tree they had all but forgotten has survived, bringing comfort and beauty to the impoverished city? The nabug tree’s endurance is in fact the story of ongoing infatuation with all that is Western at the cost of denying what is ‘homegrown’, our culture and identity –including our native trees- most of which are deemed ‘outdated’ or no longer ‘fashionable’. It was in reaction to this infatuation and disillusion with Western, topheavy nature conservation strategies that disregard local specificity, that a group of AUB faculty members from the fields of agriculture, biology, chemistry and medicine came together to form the Initiative for Biodiversity Studies in Arid Regions (IBSAR) –a name that was later changed to AUB Nature Conservation Center. The initiative gathered momentum, growing into a university-wide drive that has succeeded in raising awareness about our natural heritage and advancing innovative models for protecting Lebanon’s native species and landscapes. In its mission, NCC provides a
Ziziphus spina-christi , alemardan.blogfa.com
Ziziphus spina-christi, location: Ghair, Salalah, Oman Shanfari.net (12-March-2011), DhofarX.com
platform for projects that range from the sophisticated research about the medicinal properties of native plants to participatory approaches that ensure rural community stewardship of Lebanon’s natural heritage. In addition, raising campus-wide awareness of nature, NCC’s IBDAA is a yearly poster forum that invites students and faculty to take up the challenge of nature conservation from their disciplinary perspectives. Through these initiatives, NCC jumpstarts recognition and awareness not only of biodiversity but all that is ‘homegrown’ because these are an integral part of who we are, specifically our shared identity and heritage, and that of future generations. Jala Makhzoumi, PhD Associate Faculty and Professor of Landscape Architecture at AUB, co-founder of UNIT44 architecture (landscape architecture, ecological planning and urban design), NCC Advisory Board Member
Fresh Advisory Board April 29, 2015 AUB Campus
This year was marked by the welcoming of six new NCC Advisory Board Members, whose contributions of time and effort will complement those of the veteran Members in being seminal to the progress and evolution of the Center. Some of the Board Members are already familiar with the Center’s work, such as Dr. Jala Makhzoumi, professor of Landscape Architecture at AUB, founding member and senior fellow in the Cambridge Center for Landscape and People, as well as co-founder of UNIT44, a practice offering a wide range of services in architecture, landscape architecture, ecological planning and urban design. Another returning Member is Dr. Nadim Khouri, the Deputy Executive Secretary at the UN Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA), prior to which he accumulated experience at the World Bank in Washington as regional Director at the International Fund for Agricultural Development, as well as through many other notable achievements. Also a veteran is Mr. Fadi Rayess, Partner and CEO of Levant Retail SAL, board member at HST and co-founder of the Tamanna foundation. As for the distinguished new members, they include Emir Samir Abillama, architect and industrialist, President of Al Amir Holding, Mitsulift and Equipment, and Club Sportif Culture as well as vice president of “Coopérative Libanaise pour le Développement”, etc. He is also the father of Youssef, Karim, Raed and Maher Abillama, who donated the Samir and Claude Abillama EcoEntrepreneurship Award to honor both their parents. Also new to the committee is Mr. Anwar Ali Jammal, Chairman and General Manager of Jammal Trust Bank, board member at SOFIL and member of the “Social
Committee” at the Association for Lebanese Banks, not to mention many other notable past positions and achievements. Also adding her wisdom to the Members is Her Excellency Razan Khalifa Al Mubarak, Secretary General of the Environment Agency Abu Dhabi (EAD), Managing Director of the Emirates Wildlife Society as well as board member in numerous cultural and environmental initiatives. Dr. Arto Urtti, professor of biopharmaceutics at the Universities of Helsinki and Eastern Finland as well as Director of the Center for Drug Research at the former, author of hundreds of published papers, recipient of several notable awards, in addition to other advising positions, joined the Committee along with Dr. Heikki Vuorela, professor of Pharmacognosy and Vice Dean of the Faculty of Pharmacy at the University of Finland, Advisory Board Member at the Society for Medicinal Plant and Natural Product Research and Planta Medica, former Chairman of the Board of the Center for Drug Research, and Knight in the First Class of the Order of the White Rose of Finland, alongside countless other achievements. During their first meeting with each other - and for some, with the Center - the Board Members were introduced to the variety of programs and projects that NCC is involved in or planning to launch. Afterwards, they got a chance to meet with Provost Dallal who was thanked for his support of the Center before they met with the NCC staff and students and retired to have their first official Board Meeting. Their first order of business was to elect a new President, who was, by unanimous vote, Mr. Fadi Rayess. The eventful day was concluded on a note of positivity and determination to push the Center further in its growth and activities.
For more information about the center’s activities, visit the following link: www.aubnatureconservation.org
Degree Announcements Mastering Medicinal Plants This past year has witnessed many members of the NCC family rewarded for their hard work and research under the wing of the Center. Zaynab Jaber, for instance, is a Master’s of Science in Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics laureate who has been working within NCC’s Medicinal Research and Drug Discovery program since she joined it in October of 2013. The thesis for the research in question is entitled “Antitumor Activities of Salograviolide A, Derivatives, and Nanoparticle Formulations in Breast and Colorectal Cancer Cells”. As a recent award-winning honors graduate in biochemistry with a minor in neuroscience from Saint Anselm College in Manchester, New Hampshire, Jaber was recruited for the research by principal investigator Dr. Nadine Darwiche (Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics) who later became her advisor, during a lecture in her second month at AUB. In her acknowledgements, Zaynab described Darwiche’s faith in her as a researcher as being “sometimes all that kept [her] going”. The project was funded by HIKMA Pharmaceuticals in an effort to support the initiative of developing indigenous plants into cancer-fighting drugs. Also on the team were Dr. Walid Saad, Jaber’s co-advisor (Department of Chemical Engineering), as well as Drs. Najat Saliba and Tarek Ghaddar (Department of Chemistry). The investigators conducted experiments on Salograviolide A, a component in the indigenous Lebanese plant Centaurea ainetensis ()شوك الدردار, which was previously proven to have “promising anti-cancer properties in a variety of cancer cells, while sparing normal ones”. The team’s work allowed them to identify another
candidate for cancer treatment in the same plant, Salograviolide B, and to synthesize derivatives from each in order to compare their potencies. Following this, Dr. Saad’s specialization opened the door to combining nanotechnology with medicine in order to maximize potency and minimize side-effects by protecting the body from the drug and vice versa. Hence, after attempting to produce nanoparticles out of the candidates via “Flash NanoPrecipitation”, it was found that Salograviolide B was the most promising anti-cancer drug which can now progress into the in vivo-testing stage. The collaboration with HIKMA Pharmaceuticals hence allowed NCC-linked experts to explore the domain of medicinal plants in terms of translational research with the ultimate goal of reaching and helping cancer patients with treatments that not only fare well in the lab, but will eventually make it to cancer clinics. After almost two years on this project, Zaynab is now taking her passions for biochemistry, cancer treatments and most recently, nanotechnology, to the City University of New York to pursue her PhD on a full scholarship. Her extensive research expertise, upcoming scientific publications, and miscellaneous certifications in domains such as the fine arts and biosafety are sure to guide Zaynab toward an exciting future in academia where she will undoubtedly continue to stand out among her peers due to her versatility, talent and dedication.
Degree Announcements
The Winding Trail to Doctorship
Interview
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Bcharre district during fieldwork conducted in summer of 2013. Photo courtesy of Hussam Hawwa.
It was the end of July 2006, in the midst of ‘Harb Tammuz’, when I called Dr. Salma Talhouk from a payphone in Hamra near Bliss street (yes, there was a time where there were payphones in Beirut). I had tried contacting Salma many times during the previous few weeks with no luck, and finally I got in touch. The conversation went something like this: Me: “Salma?! Hi it’s Arbi. Kifik?” Salma: “Arbi?! Shoo you’re still in the country?” Me: “Yes, well I wasn’t sure whether I should stay or not, and I don’t really want to leave but it seems I probably should. Friends and family back home are going a bit delirious over me still being here while most Americans have already evacuated.” Salma: “Habibi, you should go. It’s not safe here. Go and come back.” Two days prior to the start of the 2006 Summer War, I had just come on board NCC (which was still known as Ibsar back in those days) as an intern. I was excited to start working for the Institute of Biodiversity Studies in Arid Regions (IBSAR for short) as a self-funded
consultant, just having finished my MSc in ethnobotany. Once the war started, everything went into chaos and I didn’t know whether I would come back or not. But when I left, I felt a longing to return as if I had an important mission to complete by being in Lebanon. Something felt empty, incomplete. I felt I had to return. The devastating war finally came to an end just a few weeks after I left. Then, in September of that year, I began my long journey with AUB-NCC that eventually evolved into my completing my PhD. This was a period of leaving and returning, where each time I would witness something new or gain new perspectives on my own research. It was also an opportunity for me to rediscover Lebanon from the outside inwards, whereas for many years I had been observing things from the inside out. In early 2007, I completed conducting interviews and compiling reports on various conservation issues in Lebanon, including habitat conservation of sea turtles in Sour, the work of Animals Lebanon in the Chouf, and local governance of Anjar’s marshes. I presented Salma with an idea from pamphlets I had received
Degree Announcements - The Winding Trail to Doctorship
from the Armenian Tree Project (ATP), a US-based NGO working on reforestation in Armenia. Salma suggested that I contact ATP to get more information on their community tree planting projects, which led to inviting two consultants from Armenia to hold seminars and workshops on community-based native tree planting. It was the start of what was my future career path, though I had no idea at the time. Shortly after, we received a hefty grant from a private individual, Sheikh Khaldoun Barakat, who later pledged to fund a scholarship, of which I would be the first recipient. The grant was used to build a commercialsized native tree nursery in AREC, managed through the technical expertise of Khaled Slim. Eventually, we began to promote community tree planting campaigns under a project we called “Power of Planting”, which lasted three seasons (2008-2010), and eventually evolved into the Biodiversity Village Award. In late 2010, I was accepted into the School of Environment, Natural Resources, and Geography (SENRGy) at Bangor University in Wales, UK, under the supervision of Drs. Neal Hockley and Amin Kamete. I began my PhD in January of 2011 with the objective of determining what incentives drive local land managers to plant native trees. My doctoral journey began with the arduous task of wading through the vast literature on local governance, environmental economics, policy analysis, and behaviours of humans in complex socialecological systems. It was daunting, but upon my return to Lebanon in late 2011, things began to take shape. I was limited on where I could conduct my fieldwork given the crisis in Syria, but there was a still a great deal of area I could cover given that I focused on Important Plant Areas (IPAs), many of which occurred along the Mt Lebanon range. I interviewed local authorities and other key informants from villages within 9 of Lebanon’s 20
IPAs. These interviews helped direct my research toward the question of whether private landowners would be willing to accept reforestation payments. As time progressed, my research objectives began to crystallize more and more with every visit. Interview responses helped to clarify the statistical outcomes, the literature was easier to find, and my last study was less ambiguous, more exciting to conduct, and a lot easier to write up than the previous ones. I felt as if a whole era went by in just a few years, like an adolescent becoming an adult, a rite-of-passage in the making of a scholar. But just like any rite-of-passage, I could never have done this alone. I can’t express my gratitude to Dr. Salma Talhouk for guiding me into this career path. I’ve been very fortunate to have had her as a mentor through these years. I’m also thankful for the encouragement and support of Dr Najat Saliba. I’m incredibly grateful to my colleagues at Ibsar, who have become like family over the years, supporting me at the direst times during my thesis. I was lucky to have such incredible field assistants to help during fieldwork and I’m grateful for their contributions. And last but not least, I’m indebted to Sheikh Khaldoun, as well as his niece Basma, for their unequivocal vision of a greener Lebanon in the future. Before embarking on my PhD, it was hard to accept the fact that I would be leaving my work at NCC to start a new chapter. It required letting go of something dear to me – the experience I gained in my upbringing through NCC (a.k.a. Ibsar) – while looking towards the future for new opportunities. I look forward to returning again to maintain this inherent tradition and to reconnect with my colleagues in Lebanon, to see its forests expand and its nature cherished by those who continue to work for conservation. Arbi J. Sarkissian, PhD Doctor of Environmental Economics, Member of the NCC family
To learn more about getting involved with the center, follow this link: http://www.aub.edu.lb/UNITS/NATURECONSERVATION/GET_INVOLVED/Pages/default.aspx
Awards International Biodiversity Day At AUB (IBDAA) April 30, 2015 Charles W. Hostler Student Center
NCC wrapped up its ninth edition of the International Biodiversity Day at AUB (IBDAA) with a special twist, as the competition is now student-organized in large part, in addition to encompassing more and more of the faculties on campus by diversifying its categories. These categories now range from Improved Energy Efficiency and Renewable Resources to Arts & Humanities, which allows for a great deal of variety in the projects where a few exceptionally impressive ones stood and some demonstrated potential for being developed further. One such winning project was entitled “Cooling and Lighting System for Refugees” executed by Maya Helou, Ryan Mouawad, Lana Tounsi, and Michael Serhan with the help of Dr. Najat Saliba in the category of Product Development. As the name indicates, it takes into consideration the deficit in energy resources in the country and considers the repercussions of this issue on multiplying refugee camps which usually get a considerable amount of sun throughout the year. Hence the team of Chemical Engineering students came up with a practical mechanism to generate enough renewable electricity to power a cooling fan during the day and lighting during the night. Other promising submissions included two winning Business Plans by Agribusiness seniors with the help of Ms. Rachel Bahn and Dr. Makram Bou Nassar. For instance, “Creggies” is a plan to create a
highly nutritious vegetable chips product with renewable packaging under the brand of a recognized enterprise, as thought out by Hadi Hamasni and Rachid Chahine. In addition, “Quinward” is a plan to use suitable Lebanese lands to farm Quinoa seeds organically, hence Abdallah Bacha, Aya Jizi, and Alice El-Habre consider human health a huge factor in the well-being of nature. These are just a few of the ideas that students managed to present through their posters at the 2015 IBDAA forum, which left NCC joyful to see just how far the Award has come since it was inspired by the Conference on Biological Diversity, or CBD’s International Biodiversity Day initiative in 2007. Today, and with the help of Jammal Trust Bank, not only has IBDAA progressed immensely, but it is also featured on the CBD website. The Center hence plans to celebrate its tenth anniversary, which coincides with AUB’s 150th anniversary, appropriately for its decade milestone, and has invited interested students to help plan next year’s event themselves as it will be the biggest IBDAA ceremony yet.
For more information about the award and this year’s winner, follow the link below: http://www.aub.edu.lb/units/natureconservation/programs/ibdaa/Pages/default.aspx
Samir & Claude Abillama Eco-Entrepreneurship Award 2015 September 2014 - August 2015 The 2015 edition of the Samir & Claude Abillama Eco-entrepreneurship Award is under way! After being promoted on the campuses of various universities and among up-and-coming as well as established entrepreneurs during Startup forums such as the “Accelerate Banque du Liban 2014” conference and “Startup Spark”, the Award began receiving submissions of eco-entrepreneurial ideas with a local impact. Of these applications, 27 qualified for participation and were offered a workshop on the 21st of February, 2015, about presenting their projects by Mr. Tarek Sadi, the Managing Director of Endeavor Lebanon, a non-profit which supports outstanding entrepreneurs. The teams then presented their projects to the judging panel which narrowed the participants down to 9 teams. Following this, another workshop was offered on the 20th of April by MAQTOOB, a British organization that supports entrepreneurs via online resources, in order to help the teams complete their proposals and develop their business models. The full proposal having been presented in late August, the 11 jurors are ready for the announcement of the victors and recipients of the $20,000 in the upcoming ceremony. The main goal of the Abillama family in creating this Award is to give innovative participants a push to develop their ideas and make a difference, whether minor or substantial, as was the case with the very first Laureate of the Award. In fact, Sara Moledor’s “Vermicomposting” plan was as simple as collecting worms to compost organic waste in villages, but still has a significant impact on involved communities where the process of learning and sharing is still growing strong in this agricultural initiative. The second annual ceremony will take place on the 17th of September in the Bathish auditorium of West Hall.
It will also feature guest speaker, Dr. Francisco Szekely, adjunct professor at the European School of Management and Technology in Berlin, former Deputy Mexican Minister of the Environment, and specialist in the fields of environmental management, technology assessment, energy policy and climate change. Moreover, Georges Khabbaz, Lebanese actor, writer, singer, producer, only to name a few, will also be speaking at the event in order to share his inspirational expertise in the realms of activism and perseverance.
For more information about the award, visit the following link: http://www.aub.edu.lb/units/natureconservation/programs/eco-entrepreneurship-award/Pages/index.aspx
Baldati Bi’ati Award Ceremony October 11, 2014 Charles W. Hostler Student Center Auditorium
The fourth consecutive Biodiversity Village Award ceremony took place on campus in collaboration with the Ministry of Tourism represented by Minister Michel Pharaon and Mrs. Nada Sardouk, the Director General of the Ministry of Tourism. This project is funded entirely by the Coca-Cola Foundation, for which Mr. Antoine Tayyar, the Director of Public Affairs and Communications, was in attendance, and conducted under the patronage of the Directorate General of Administrations and Local Councils within the Ministry of Interior and Municipalities, represented by Director General Omar Hamza. Representatives from the 17 participating villages attended the event which showcased the plans they had each prepared and begun to set in motion. After signing in, the representatives attended a press conference which began with the screening of a video showing the progress that was observed during summer trips by NCC members. It was then explained that this initiative, attempting to abide by the International Biodiversity treaty, aims to create an environment that future generations not only know how to protect, but also use durably. The role of the NCC being only to provide a frame of organization and research, and that of the Coca-Cola Foundation being only to provide funding, the different municipalities had to learn to incite cooperation between individuals and local authorities, possibly even forming councils with diverse members in order to ensure a maximum of information collected and consequently limit deforestation, conserve village heritage and enhance rural eco-tourism. Next, Dr. Ahmad Dallal, the provost of AUB, and Minister Pharaon, announced the winners of the award: Ehden (North) won for “sustainable highlands management”, Mokhtara (Mount Lebanon) for “sustainable riverbank management”, and Bentael (Mount Lebanon) for “preserving natural heritage through local cooperation”. In addition, Mr. Bechara Salemeh received the well-deserved Environmental
Leadership award, for his sustainable management of a camp site on endowed land. Finally, Mr. Pharaon, who not only supports NCC but has implemented the information gathered from its research into the Ministry’s strategy following last year’s Memorandum of Understanding, concluded that preserving nature is no longer a Romantic notion, but an investment in our heritage, especially now that rural regions are the only place for affordable tourism. The attendees then received a collection of maps showcasing the environmental features and foreseen plans for 9 of the municipalities, also entitled “Green Maps” and went on to discuss the changes over lunch.
For more information about the award, visit the following link: http://www.aub.edu.lb/units/natureconservation/Awards/BVA/Pages/index.aspx
Debates and Publications Ta3a Ne7ké: From the Wild to the zoo... now what? Is hunting bringing our animals to extinction? Hunting seems to be a controversial topic in Lebanon as it is a sport favored by many. Some hunters kill between 200 and 300 birds in a single trip. To study the hunting dilemma from its different angles, it was necessary to organize another Ta3a Ne7ké debate to discuss the subject. The panelists, moderated by Dr. Lisa Arnold, raised some important points regarding the issue of uncontrolled hunting in Lebanon. Dr. Riyad Sadek, Chairman of both the Natural History Museum at AUB and the West Asia Amphibian Specialist Group, began by distinguishing between hunters and random shooters. He also pointed out that the situation in Lebanon is worsened by the country’s position in the path of the migratory route of many European birds, not to mention the numbers of animals poisoned as a result of mistaking empty cartridges for food. Following this, Dr. Hyam Mallat, lawyer at the Beirut Bar Association and specialist in environmental law explained that the problem does not reside in the lack of legislation as law 580/2004 clearly states that it is forbidden for people to kill any animal which has a large impact on ecological balance, especially if its species is endangered. However, in his opinion, the shortcoming in applying the law is due to the lack of an attitude to encourage its implementation. As for Myriam Klink, who was our special guest this year as she is an outspoken animal welfare activist, she justified animal hunting in prehistoric times, seeing as it was necessary for survival. In contrast, the modern sportsman hunts for recreation, which is inexcusable. Finally, Dr. Abi Said, Director of Animal Encounter (the only educational center for wildlife conservation in Lebanon) and the Regional Operations Officer at the Environmental
October 2, 2014 West Hall, Auditorium B
and Sustainable Development Unit at AUB, asked to retain our scientific objectivity and underlined the fact that animal protection needs to be executed in an educated manner. Hunting is hence not an absolute evil as it is at times necessary in cases of an excess of a certain species in absence of a natural predator, as is the current case with wild boars. Therefore, what does need destroying is not the hunter but his distorted image, which leads to destructive hobbies. When asked what was to be done, it was agreed that the change should be slow and progressive in order to eventually inflict sanctions and exercise pressure on political candidates to incorporate the environment into their platforms. In response, Dr. Rania Masri, Associate Director at the Asfari Institute for Civil Society and Citizenship at AUB, intervened as an audience member and clarified that our main culprits are not the hunters but our neoliberal economists, with all the term entails, from illegitimate quarries and so on. Her proposed solution was to organize for the environment, from outside the environment, i.e. build the foundations for economic equity, etc. In summary, the discussion managed to be educational and provided some unexpected insight into a problem that now appears more complex than its overpublicized façade. The audience left excited and filled with new information to process and hopefully put into action.
For more info on the event, follow this link: http://www.aub.edu.lb/units/natureconservation/news_events/center/Pages/ta3a_ne7ke_zoo.aspx
Debates and Publications
Ta3a Ne7ké: Green Jobs vs Oil Jobs November 20, 2014 For its second and last debate of the year, the Center decided to introduce AUBites to the concept of a green economy and the existing differences between jobs that rely on fossil fuel consumption and green-based positions.
West Hall, Auditorium B
The discussion started with Mario Saab, co-founder and managing partner of SEEDS, a leading engineering consultancy which helps green building acquire accreditation. He explained that 70% of the carbon emissions responsible for climate change are due to the construction sector. Maya Karkour, co-founder of EcoConsulting, then informed us that green jobs are nowadays being promoted and favored in the country, especially by the Central Bank of Lebanon, which is offering low interest loans to eco-friendly projects. She also pointed out that it is economically logical to take a stand with greencollar jobs, since saving natural resources and energy will eventually lead to saving money. Michèle Chammas Garzouzi, marketing and retail sales manager at MEDCO, continued on this optimistic note, stating that by 2020, we are expected to have enough promising discoveries to curtail the brain drain phenomenon in Lebanon. Mr. Tarek Sadi, Managing Director of Endeavor Lebanon, passionately added that in order to create long-term sustainable jobs we need to focus on creativity and innovation or what he called “know-how” to create a balance between the economy, the job sector and people’s needs. He acknowledged an increasing interest in green economy, substantiated by 2014 US statistics which proved that Americans had more green jobs than polluting ones, which is a positive thought in light of the continuing increase of energy expenditure.
As for Mr. George Eleftheriou, President and CEO of Eleftheriou associates, he focused on the branding phenomenon clarifying that: “Each one of us is a brand, whether you know it or not” in order to underline the undeniable importance of soft skills in the career market. Finally, moderator Al Thoumy summed up the talk by advising all those entering the job market to make sure they are motivated about their field and willing to work hard to brand themselves and excel at their job in order to succeed, whether in a large corporation that consumes fossil fuels, or in an firm that is part of the Green initiative which is beginning to boom in Lebanon.
For more info on the event, follow this link: http://www.aub.edu.lb/units/natureconservation/news_events/center/Pages/ta3a_ne7ke_green_jobs.aspx
Debates and Publications
Book Signing: Trees of Lebanon November 27, 2014 “You want a story, you want a history, or you want a cultural relation with the tree so that you feel you have an attachment and you remember this tree,” said Dr. Salma Talhouk during the Trees of Lebanon book launching.
Ray R. Irani - Oxy Engineering Complex staff lounge
This year, in addition to its academic publications, the Center released a book entitled Trees of Lebanon describing native trees and how to identify some of them with the help of an enclosed Tree Key. One of the main objectives behind compiling this book was to shed some attention on the different indigenous species of trees in the country and their characteristics, in order to shift our interest beyond the Cedar tree, which despite being dear to every Lebanese heart as the national tree, casts a huge shadow on other species. So how can one get to know a tree? It is actually more complicated than taxonomic traits and encompasses all kinds of factors, from historical, to cultural, to mythical. The aesthetic aspects of the included trees were also emphasized in the book as breath-taking watercolour illustrations by the extremely talented Fadia Nasser Eldine, who not only added colour to the book, but brought out the ethereal beauty of each of the explored trees. Authors, Drs. Salma Talhouk, Mariana Yazbek, Arbi Sarkissian, and Mohammad Al-Zein, as well as Khaled Sleem and Sakra Abo Eid, in addition to the editor, translator and designer, respectively Dr. Amy Zenger, May Makarem-Hamady and May Ghaibeh, worked very hard to create this mesh of science and art in order to promote reforestation with included tips as well as by donating all proceeds from book sales to NCC’s reforestation trips in hopes of planting more of the trees illustrated intricately in the book. Moreover, during the book signing, Dr. Talhouk insisted on the fact that the reforestation procedure is not limited to planting trees,
which is actually the easy part, but also includes the following 50 years of follow-ups and maintenance to protect and nurture them. The book is still available for purchase at NCC, the Antoine bookstore and Antoine Online, Librairie Internationale, Gibran’s Lebanon, Alice Eddé and Tawlet.
For more info on the event, follow this link: http://www.aub.edu.lb/news/2014/Pages/lebanon-tree-manual.aspx
Outreach Casper & Gambini’s turns its menu green August , 2014 Starting August 15 and throughout that month, Casper & Gambini’s featured the AUB Nature Conservation Center in order to attract all natureloving foodies and support the conservation cause using one of the mightiest weapons at anyone’s disposal: FOOD! “How?” you may ask. Well, Casper & Gambini’s set aside 2% of its earnings and donated them to AUB NCC. The restaurant chain hung posters on the walls of its five different branches and placed framed flyers on their tables so that no one would miss the campaign encouraging people to become guardians of their
Casper & Gambini’s, Hamra
nature. The donation was later used to fund some of NCC’s projects such as medicinal plant research, Community-Based Reforestation, and its Eco-Awards which promote integrative health, decentralized reforestation and eco-entrepreneurship, respectively.
Welcoming “green” students August 26-28 and September 10-11, 2014 West Hall Area
NCC was on the hunt for some tree lovers at last year’s orientation and club days at AUB! From the 26th of August till the 28th, and then on the 10th and 11th of September, the NCC student club reserved a booth on campus in order to encourage new and returning students to become members and to promote the thenupcoming “Stock the wood” concert. In addition, two presentations regarding the Center and its
activities were given to International students and their guides on the 29th and 19th of August, respectively, before the beginning of the semester. Students were very interested and did not shy away from asking about the Nature Conservation projects, news and doings of both the club and the Center. The case was similar later in the academic year at the return from winter break, when NCC engaged students during campus “Innovation Day”. What a fresh start to both semesters!
For more information about the NCC Student Club, visit their Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/NatureConservationCenterStudentClub?fref=ts
Stock the Wood: Evolution
September 17, 2014 Hostler Open-Air Amphitheater
“Be green hearted and plant a tree, it’s a donation not a fee!” This was our slogan for the week of the fourth annual “Stock the Wood” fundraising concert. The concert was a success not only for the complimentary snacks and colorful “Evolution”themed bracelets but for the flattering work put up by the Nature Conservation Center Student Club whose super hippy volunteers managed to bring us five remarkable performances by Mother Mantra, Sima Dardari, Silverage, Amer Gharib and the Runaway Jacks. They even managed to play a humming game at the end. The audience itself was proud to support a noble initiative; In fact, the club sold 390 tickets and all proceeds were used to plant 390 trees, making our Lebanon just a little bit greener.
The night went by seamlessly and there were no technical difficulties, so much so that we can’t help but think the universe is helping out in its own way!
For more information about the event, visit the following link: http://www.aub.edu.lb/units/natureconservation/news_events/center/Pages/stock_the_wood_2014.aspx
NCC Open House
November 26, 2014 Nature Conservation Center, Building 37, Lower Campus
The NCC family held its very first open house this year, inviting AUB students, staff and faculty to bring their friends and drop by to enjoy some delectable munchies and a slideshow of a few of the center’s events, news and projects. The Center’s goal was to engage students in the nature conservation cause, and ultimately kindle their curiosity and concern regarding the welfare of the biosphere. When asked about the Center’s progress, its manager, Diane Audi, said that NCC now has around 400 friends and is growing faster as it has accumulated some experience in event
organization. “What’s most interesting about the center”, stated Tina El-Khoury, NCC’s awards coordinator, “is that it spreads knowledge about nature in a modern and non-classic way, which can reach both students and adults”. The day went by pleasantly as some visitors expressed their excitement to be part of the center. “It is wonderful how the center is working for a cause. It’s not boring office work, but they go on the field and interact with people”, explained AUB student and first time visitor, Sylvia.
Extra-curricular Nature-related Activities Workshop December 23, 2014 Since 2011, NCC has been field testing its School Guide for Extracurricular Nature-related Activities in collaboration with the Ministry of Education and Higher Education (MEHE). It finally released and distributed the manual, which includes 33 nature conservationcentered extracurricular activities, to all public schools in the first month of 2014. Since then, 25 schools have been invited to be part of the follow-up plan in order to select the 3 which implemented the manual most effectively. Some schools have stood out in their efforts to apply the suggested activities and their respective guidelines, organizing student planting and follow-up trips, trips to dairy farms, as well as their own workshops covering themes from arts and crafts to soap making. Most recently, NCC held a workshop for the School Guide at the MEHE, to which it invited 2 representatives from each of 23 schools. The workshop’s main focus was to
Ministry of Education and Higher Education
teach the schools about implementing the activities in the Guide into their regular activities. The workshop ended with renewed enthusiasm regarding the environmentally-oriented activities and the motivation of its implementation.
For more information about the event, visit the following link: http://www.aub.edu.lb/units/natureconservation/news_events/center/Pages/School_Guide.aspx
Media Forest
May 16, 2015 Ourhaniya
On a mid-May Saturday, NCC organized a trip to Ourhaniya to celebrate the winners of the second cycle of its Professional Forest project. Professional Forest is a biennial project that allows students in a selected region of Lebanon to engage with their environment, in this case by writing short stories. During the first year of the current cycle, Media Forest, these students, along with members of their community and prominent media figures, visited the participating village and planted trees that the municipality made a commitment to look after. Following this, watering trips were organized and eventually all of the participants went back to the village this year to check on the trees they planted and find out the winners of the writing competition. Students from the Official Ourhaniya Mixed Middle School ()مدرسة الورهانية الرسمية اخملتلطة, as well as members of the Ourhaniya municipality and several media figures including Rima Karaki, Mey Al Sayegh and Arij Khattar,
visited the site to participate in the event. The NCC team joined them for a walk in the forest during which they noted the progress of the pistachio pal. trees that were planted in previous years and took pictures with them. Afterwards, three prizes of $300 each were distributed to the winners of the short story competition, Ghandi Ghanem, Bachar Ghanem and Bilal Ghanem. The group then ended the day with a light appetizing lunch made by the village women.
Waste Crisis Management Workshop August 6, 2015 Charles W. Hostler Student Center Auditorium
When the Naameh landfill was shut down on July 17th, 12 years after its expiration date, trash began to pile up on the streets of Beirut and Mount Lebanon, as there was nowhere to take it, and Lebanon witnessed its first trash crisis in history. Faced with the toxic consequences of leaving trash to ferment on the streets, and with no official decisions made, a group of AUB staff, students and faculty rallied together to form a volunteer task force to deal with the emergency situation as specialized subgroups. A week later, the task force, led by NCC’s director, Dr. Najat Saliba, organized a workshop in
order to share information about the public and environmental health aspects of the problem, in addition to potential solutions and strategies that have already proven to be effective. The workshop took place on the 6th of August and was attended by representatives from over 29 municipalities, as well as from environmental NGOs. Tarek Mitri from the Issam Fares Institute kicked off the discussion by pointing out the importance of being proactive rather than assigning blame. Drs. Kamal Badr, Nisreen Rizk and Hiba El Hajj, MDs, advised on measures to be taken on a personal scale and in regard to dealing with the trash at home and on the streets. For instance, it was stressed that Calcium Carbonate is far more effective and less toxic than pesticides as a preventive measure against infestations in dump sites. Following this, Dr. Salma Talhouk from the Department of Landscape Design & Ecosystem Management screened a video dispelling the stigma against raising earthworms that can process organic waste into high-quality organic fertilizers, which was the topic of Nada Ghanem’s
Master thesis. Afterwards, Dr. May Massoud from the Faculty of Health Sciences delineated the pros and cons of all waste disposal methods, concluding that landfilling and incineration are intended for residual waste, after reducing output, sorting, recycling and reusing, rather than being the only method in dealing with trash. Next, Paul Abi Rached, president of T.E.R.R.E. Liban, pointed out that the problem mainly revolves around sorting, which is very feasible, considering that the inhabitants of Bcharreh actually employed it from 1996 to 1998. Then, the Sidon municipality was used as a case study in that their use of a mechanical biological sorting plant to dispose of organic waste via anaerobic digestion has been found to be successful by the head of the municipality, Mohamad Seoudi. However, activist and founder of Cedar Environmental, Ziad Abi Chaker presented some controversial facts regarding how effective this strategy really is. He also instructed all authorities to make sure people gather their organic waste in a black bag and other waste in a blue bag to be collected for recycling at a drop-off point as soon as one is secured. He pointed out that our trash isn’t very difficult to deal with, but poor decisions like wasting resources just to dry organic waste so it can be burned are what makes it so costly.
For more information about the initiative, visit the following link: http://www.aub.edu.lb/news/2015/Pages/waste-crisis.aspx
Upcoming events “Samir & Claude Abillama Eco-Entrepreneurship Award” 2016 Launch, Applications are open August 15, 2015
Stock the Wood Concert 2015 September 10, 2015 | Hostler Student Center Open Air Amphitheatre
Ta3a Ne7ké debate September 15, 2015 | AUB West Hall, Auditorium B
“Samir & Claude Abillama Eco-Entrepreneurship Award” Ceremony 2015 September 17, 2015 | AUB OSB, Maamari Auditorium
“School Guide for Extracurricular Nature-Related Activities Award Ceremony October 3, 2015 | UNESCO Palace
Biodiversity Village Award Exhibition 2015 October 12 - 17, 2015 | AUB West Hall
Biodiversity Village Award Ceremony 2015 October 17, 2015 | AUB West Hall, Bathish Auditorium
Ta3a Ne7kĂŠ debate To be announced | AUB West Hall, Auditorium B
International Biodiversity Day At AUB 2015 (IBDAA) April, 2016 | Stay tuned for more details about this year’s competition
American University of Beirut P.O. Box 11-0236/ AUB Riad El Solh, Beirut 1107 2020, Lebanon Building 37 - Lower Campus, AUB Telephone: +961-1-350000 ext: 2699 - 4509 - 4505 - 4521 Email: natureadm@aub.edu.lb Written and edited by Sarah Yakzan and Serine Haidar Ahmad Designed by Sabine Khattar Š 2015 AUB - Nature Conservation Center
This Newsletter was printed on Freelife Vellum White: recycled uncoated paper