Wings & Waves – SPNL’s Newsletter July 2014

Issue July 2014

Every year BirdLife Global Council meets to debate and endorse strategic issues.The 48th Global Council for Birdlife International network of 120 societies was held in Amman last month. Assad Serhal, Director General of SPNL and member of the Birdlife Global Council participated in the meeting that discussed the corporates social responsibility towards nature and Biodiversity.

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Elie Karam a Lebanese shepard in Hima Kheirbet Khanafar shoot by his smart phone a female Chukar partridge protecting her newly fledged brood. This picture is a testimonial for how a shepard can contribute to nature and bird conservation.Galliformes, gallinaceous birds. This is a resident breeder in dry, open and often hilly country. It nests in a scantily lined ground scrape laying 5-21 eggs. The Partridge takes a wide variety of seeds and some insect food. The Partridge is a rotund bird, with a light brown back, grey breast and buff belly. The face is white with a black gorget. It has rufous-streaked flanks and red legs. When disturbed

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We are excited to announce the fourth photographer to participate in the “On the move exhibition” Asaad Saleh from Lebanon! On the Move is an exhibition of professional photography commissioned by the Mediterranean Consortium for Nature and Culture. It celebrates the lives, challenges and ecological knowledge of transhumant shepherds and nomadic pastoralists in the Mediterranean region. From North Africa to the Middle East, from the Iberian Peninsula to Turkey, Greece

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Through the generous support of the Japanese Embassy “Grass Roots’’ fund, SPNL has recently finalized the implementation of the Massaya spring and wetland rehabilitation work under the project titled “Water Rehabilitation and Management at Hima Kfar Zabad Wetlands and Springs “. Water specialists have warned that Lebanon will face severe water shortage over the coming years unless an effective water management system is soon put in place.

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Through the presence of the municipality of Anjar and Fekha villages and the local community, SPNL has recently concluded the project titled “Vocational Trainings on Carpet Weaving in el-Fekha Village and pruning in Aanjar/Kfar Zabad” which was funded by OTI Lebanon. This took place through a closing ceremony reception which was held in each of Anjar and in Fekhaa villages separately on 24 June 2014.

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SPNL initiated in the beginning of 2013 a project for empowering women funded by the UN Women Fund for Gender Equality–titled “Promoting Hima Women Empowerment for Conservation and Livelihood”. The three year project aims at enhancing the livelihood of rural women through the revival of the Hima approach.

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SPNL started to implement the project “Enhancing livelihoods of local Lebanese communities in Hima territories; from social, economic and natural perspectives” funded by the European Union early June 2014. The project will be realized over a time span of three years and it will take place in three Himas in the Bekaa region, namely Anjar/ Kfar Zabad, El-Fakiha and Ain Zebdeh/Kherbet Anafar.

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The final phase of the “The Social, Ecological, and Agricultural Resilience in the face of Climate Change”-(SEARCH) project focuses on the implementation of pilot projects as a result of the social and ecological vulnerability assessments that were conducted in the earlier phases of the project.

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The EU funded project entitled “Revive traditional approaches for the benefit of the future” is implemented in Andaket, Upper Akkar. The duration of this project is 18 months where its main objective is to promote conservation of communal natural resources through revival of traditional community based approaches. It is implemented by SPNL and the Andaket municipality

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SPNL participated in the Sub-regional training on the Cost Assessment of Water Resources Degradation that took place in Athens, 23- 24-25 June 2014. The aim of this training workshop is to assess the economic valuation of water resources at the basin level. In the past two years, SWIM-SM has focused on assessing the cost of water resources degradation in order to demonstrate the usefulness of quantifying the economic gains and losses for a range of water management decisions.

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Almost 80% of temperate slipper orchids and over 90% of lemurs are threatened with extinction, according to the latest update of the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species™. The mascot of the 2014 FIFA World Cup – the Brazilian Three-banded Armadillo – remains Vulnerable as its population continues to decline.

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A consortium of NGOs (Associacion Trashumancia y Naturaleza) DiversEarth, Doga Dernegi, Mediterranean Institute for Nature and Anthropos (Med-INA), Society for Protection of Nature in the Lebanon (SPNL), and WWF), have joined forces to undertake a project to assess and support cultural conservation practices in the Mediterranean Basin funded by MAVA Foundation.

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