Wings & Waves – SPNL’s Newsletter January 2015

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Wings & Waves - SPNL's Newsletter September 2014
Wings & Waves – SPNL’s Newsletter January 2015

Season’s Greeting from SPNL

Time again for me to address the changing of the season, and to give the old year one last hug. With 2014 almost at an end, it’s a good time not only to reflect on the year’s achievements, but also to look forward to what 2015 may bring for us. We’ve had a good year in 2014, and experienced a number of positive changes as we continued delivering on our commitment towards nature and people.

Assad Serhal

SPNL General Director

Jbeil hosts On the Move Exhibition and Souk El Hima

Under the patronage of his Excellency the minister of environment Mohammad Al Mashnouk, and through the generous contribution of the European Union, UN Women’s Fund for Gender Equality, and the Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund, the Society for the Protection of Nature in Lebanon – SPNL in collaboration with the Municipality of Jbeil and the Municipal Cultural Center of Byblos organized a remarkable event “On the Move Exhibition” and “Souk El Hima”.

At SPNL, we are passionate about the science and art of listening to and engaging with people. We also believe in the power of social media and we encourage our team to leverage technology to connect with people, stakeholders and influencers.

The world of emerging technology is always changing. These principles apply for any and all public communications platforms (both mobile and web-based). We’ve registered in a few networks below:

Facebook Twitter Google +

Instagram Linkedin Youtube

Flickr  and more

http://www.spnl.org/japanese-ambassador-otsuka-visits-hima-kfar-zabad/
Japanese Ambassador Otsuka visits Hima Kfar Zabad

The Japanese Ambassador to Lebanon Seiichi Otsuka visited Hima Kfar Zabad in the occasion of the completion of the project titled “Water Rehabilitation and Management at Hima Kfar Zabad Wetlands and Springs” funded by the Government of Japan through the Grant Assistance for Grassroots Human Security Projects (GGP). Ambassador Otsuka toured the hima accompanied by SPNL’s president Ramzi Saidi and Hima Programs Director Dalia Jawhary.

IUCN summit delivers major commitments to save Earth’s

SPNL’s Hima Programs Director Dalia Jawhary participated in this event as a speaker in the stream 4 session titled “Do Landscape approaches work ?”

The IUCN World Parks Congress 2014, the once-in-a-decade global forum on protected areas, closed on 19th of November 2014 with the release of The Promise of Sydney.

Organized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and hosted by the Australian and New South Wales Governments, the Congress brought together more than 6,000 participants from over 170 countries.

 

Regional Workshop on Mainstreaming MSB conservation

Amman hosted a workshop to discuss and evaluate the project titled  “Mainstreaming Conservation of Migratory Soaring Birds into Key Productive Sectors along the Rift Valley/Red Sea Flyway (MSB) which is a GEF funded project that SPNL contributed to, in order to ensure that globally threatened and significant populations of soaring birds that migrate along the Rift Valley/Red Sea flyway are effectively maintained. Assad Serhal, SPNL Director General and Bassima Khatib, SPNL Assistant Director General participated in this event to present the  multiple activities implemented in Lebanon.

New Book Releases

Lebanon’s Soaring Birds Atlas launched

MSB Lebanon and the Society for the Protection of Nature in Lebanon (SPNL), BirdLife in Lebanon, has just launched a major Atlas on the Soaring Birds.
The publication, collated & edited by Assad Adel Serhal, Bassima Chafic Khatib, Ghassan Ramadan Jaradi & Zeina Kasem Badran, aims to map through the presence/occurrence and the distribution of a group of species, the Migratory Soaring Birds (MSBs), across Lebanon.

The atlas was officially launched by his excellency Mohamad Al Mashnouk Minister of Environment.
“It is an excellent International and National effort, to reduce the injustice that is exposing migratory birds to serious threats. Having the Soaring Birds Atlas in Hands, presents a unique achievement to the Ministry of environment that considers protecting Birds Species on the top of its priorities.” says Al Mashnouk.

Souk El Hima Lebanon

The Souk El Hima program has been established to answer to the local communities’ need to have their products marketed and to raise awareness about the importance of products that are related both to nature and to Lebanese heritage.

 

All the products produced by the targeted local communities will be marketed through ‘Souk Al Hima’.

Climate Change Adaptation: Quinoa to make a grand entry to Lebanon’s agriculture calendar

 


The U.N.’s Food and Agriculture Organization is looking to introduce the nutritious cereal crop quinoa to Lebanon’s agricultural calendar, the organization said in a statement issued this week.

Quinoa, a nutritious cereal crop for millions of people throughout the Andes, could also play an important role in eradicating hunger, malnutrition and poverty in the Middle East and North Africa region

Tackling illegal trapping in Cyprus

In Cyprus, the illegal trapping of birds is a chronic and gut-wrenching problem. On this island every year millions of migrating birds stop for a rest on their arduous journeys across the Mediterranean Sea only to find they cannot take off  again.


The majority of Cypriots do not consider bird trapping a serious issue, despite it being illegal by national legislation since 1974.

Ambelopoulia despite being illegal can still be bought in restaurants. Photo: Guy Shorrock; rspb-images.com

Birds ‘heard tornadoes coming’ and fled one day ahead

US scientists say tracking data shows that five golden-winged warblers “evacuated” their nesting site one day before the April 2014 tornado outbreak.


The golden-winged warblers were being tracked as part of a pilot study of their normal, seasonal migration

Multiple tornadoes devastated parts of the southern and central US in April
News in Photos
Hooded Crow in Deir Koubel – Kaza Aley

SPNL media campaigner Bassam Alkantar was lucky to meet with this Hooded Crow in Deir Koubel – Kaza Aley. This birds was too Young still to realize , how dangerous to get that close to humans in Lebanon !

Endangered Species

Lebanon viper (Montivipera bornmuelleri).


A venomous snake, the Lebanon viper (Montivipera bornmuelleri) is an extremely rare species.

The Lebanon viper is classified as Endangered (EN) on the IUCN Red List.

With the Support of Mava Foundation 

Society for the Protection of Nature in Lebanon – SPNL
Email: news@spnl.org
Web: http://www.spnl.org
Tel/Fax: 00961 1 343 740 / 00961 1 344 814 / 00961 1 748308
Address: Awad Bldg, 6th Floor, Abdel Aziz Street, P.O.Box: 11-5665, Beirut, Lebanon
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