Wings & Waves – SPNL’s Newsletter August 2014

Issue August 2014

SPNL (Society for the Protection of Nature in Lebanon) and LPO (Ligue pour la Protection des Oiseaux) agreed to strengthen bilateral partnership in addition to the global partnership in BirdLife International. LPO (Birdlife French Partner) celebrated 100 years of existence in 2012. SPNL (Birdlife Lebanese Partner) is celebrating 30 years of existence in 2014. Andrée Vérès SPNL France delegate, visited LPO office and met Mr. Antoine Cadi, Advisor to the LPO President and CEO. The meeting discussed several partnership opportunities for people and nature, through the hima revival and responsible hunting.

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As a part of the IUCN-led ‘Nurturing NGO Capacity to Engage in Biodiversity Conservation in the Eastern Mediterranean Project’, a capacity-needs assessment was carried out during a workshop in November 2012 in Amman, which led to the development of basic partner development plans for all NGOs involved, including the Society for the Protection of Nature in Lebanon (SPNL). Dr. José Tavares, IUCN consultant and the Director of Vulture Conservation Foundation, trained and guided SPNL staff during a two days strategic planning workshop at SPNL office in Beirut on the 3rd and 4th of July 2014.

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This documentary features the outputs of the “Social Ecological and Agricultural Resilience in the face of Climate Change” – SEARCH project in Lebanon.

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Landscape Design graduates from the American University of Beirut and SPNL’s Medscapes’ project coordinator Shalimar Sinno have participated in the field survey for the Level 1 maps of the pilot area selected for Lebanon. The pilot area stretches from Jbeil in the Mount Lebanon, to Zahle in Bekaa Valley, Khiam in South, and back to Beirut. Field work sheets have been filled for the landform type, geology, soil, landuse, and settlements. Level 1 was mainly field validation for data that was present on the available previous maps for Lebanon in order to update these maps on a scale of 1:250000.

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Black Gold: Glimpses of the World of Goat Grazing in Lebanon is a documentary produced by the Society for the Protection of Nature in Lebanon (SPNL).

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Ghazi Rifai, SPNL volunteer took the initiative to feed migrating cranes while refueling in his front yard, for their long journey between south and North America. “Something we should be All doing, not shooting at them like some Shooters do in Lebanon and parts of the Mediterranean”. Said Assad Serhal, SPNL Director General. Lead by ornithologist Nabil Khairallah , SPNL team documented over 60.000 cranes migrating together in March 2004 over the Hima/ IBA EbelEsaqi in southern Lebanon,

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BirdLife International and its partners are working to develop an exciting new iPhone application to better conserve our Important Bird Areas. The App is called ‘Nature Watch’ and it has been designed to encourage engagement, information sharing and social networking around sites. It will allow you to share text and images from the sites, and for you to monitor this activity and communicate with others in real time. All you need to be involved is an iPhone or iPad. It will allow visitors to IBAs to share text and images from the sites. To register and become an exclusive Nature Watch tester, please fill in this web-form and enjoy it.

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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.

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More than 350 newly recognised bird species have been assessed by BirdLife International for the first time on behalf of The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species™. Worryingly, more than 25% of these newly recognised birds have been listed as threatened on The IUCN Red List – compared with 13% of all birds – making them urgent priorities for conservation action.

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12 species of birds in Lebanon are threatened, and 16 other species of birds are near threatened according to the 2014 Red List prepared by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). The IUCN prepared its report based on studies conducted by BirdLife International and other partner organizations.

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WWF Wildlife Mobile has teamed up with well-known conservationist and author of ‘Fighting for Birds’ Dr Mark Avery to bring you the top 10 wildlife apps for your smartphone: As you enjoy the wildlife with the help of your smartphone app, you’ll also be contributing to nature conservation – and it won’t cost you a penny.

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The first ever Illustrated Checklist of the Birds of the World is really two works in one. It is a complete checklist whose taxonomy incorporates the most up-to-date information and an exhaustive methodology (Tobias et al. 2010) in an entirely systematic and consistent way. At the same time, it contains illustrations and distribution maps for every bird species in the world. This includes the original artwork from the HBW series.

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Natural scientists have uncovered some of the secrets of dryland ecosystems, describing processes which ensure that life continues even where rainfall is sparse and erratic. From the quiet magic of the desert soil biocrust [PDF] – where lichens, mosses, microfungi, bacteria and green algae combine to retain water and harbour soil fertility – to the industriousness of 2,600 species of termites [PDF], whose nesting, foraging and feeding behaviour influences the dynamics of soil carbon and supports plant growth, these ecological processes are above all systemic and interdependent.

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The improvement of livestock production in Lebanon and the empowerment of this vital sector will be through improvement of the pasture resources, sustainable management of the grazing ecosystems (woodlands, rangelands, pastures…), their improvement whenever possible, and the increase of the share of fodder crops in agricultural production. Improving the livelihood systems of farmers, providing them with the necessary veterinary, hygiene, handling and transformation equipment and services, will also improve the quality of the milk and milk-products and increase the income generated from the livestock production, mainly at the scale of the small herders.

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