A unique traveling photography exhibition on Transhumance in the Mediterranean opened at Musée Bardo, Tunis on 19 July 2014.
WWF North Africa and DiversEarth, on behalf of the Mediterranean Consortium for Nature and Culture , announced the opening of On the Move at Musée Bardo in Tunis, on 19 July 2014.
On the Move is a visual celebration of the lives and ecological knowledge of transhumant shepherds and nomadic pastoralists in the Mediterranean. The work of six professional photographers from Tunisia (Wassim Ghozlani), Morocco (Younes Tazi), Spain (Gema Arrugaeta), Greece (Stamos Abatis), Lebanon (Assad Saleh) and Turkey (Baris Koça) is presented in a striking collection of sixty photographs.
The exhibition kicks off in Tunis and will then travel to Lebanon, Geneva, Madrid, Istanbul and Athens – raising awareness of the links between transhumance and nature conservation as it moves.
“As part of the Mediterranean Consortium for Nature and Culture, WWF is proud to be leading this innovative project in North Africa. We have known for a long time that the practice of transhumance and nomadic pastoralism is extremely important in our region, culturally. But now we also know that it is critically important for nature and biodiversity too.” said Faouzi Maamouri, head of WWF’s North Africa programme. “We are happy to be celebrating the lives and traditional knowledge of our nomads and pastoralists in relation to the environment”.
Liza Zogib, Director of DiversEarth and coordinator of the Mediterranean Consortium for Nature and Culture added “this amazing collection of professional photographs portrays beautifully a ten-thousand year old practice that is struggling to survive in a modern world. A practice that has contributed greatly to shaping the cultural landscapes of the Mediterranean and maintaining their biodiversity.
On the Move is part of a larger initiative to support the cultural practices of the Mediterranean that help maintain biodiversity and contribute to the wise use of natural resources.
The Mediterranean Consortium for Nature and Culture is made up of the following NGOs: DiversEarth, WWF, Doga Dernegi, Med-INA, Society for the Protection of Nature in Lebanon (SPNL), Trashumancia y Naturaleza, IUCN and Fauna and Flora International, with support from the MAVA Foundation
For more information:
https://www.facebook.com/medconsortium
