ENHG Abu Dhabi's Fearless Leaders

The people who head up the ENHG committee are too busy bringing us the best in natural history programming and field trips for self-promotion, which is why it is high time for a profile of our co-chairs, Nessrine Al Zahlawi and Arabella Willing.

Arabella and Ness on any given weekend in winter

Both long-term UAE residents with backgrounds in marine science, the two became co-chairs in 2016, and their leadership focus is very much on including and welcoming as many people interested in nature in the UAE as possible.

Arabella said, “It’s a lovely community spirit where everyone is helping everyone else learn. There’s no other agenda. It feels very authentic. I love that everyone is so curious, and everyone is so interested in the world around them and appreciative of nature, and excited to go and explore and learn more.”

Arabella has said before, “outdoors people are the best kind of people,” and ENHG is a great place for them to meet.

Arabella and a friend

Nessrine added that the group is a good platform to raise awareness about nature in the UAE. Nessrine’s professional career has been dedicated to the UAE environment as well—she has worked in biodiversity policies and regulation at the Environment Agency Abu Dhabi for the past five years, and her fingerprints are on many of the EAD’s campaigns, such as sustainable fisheries, and the designation of Khor Kalba and Al Wathba sites as wetlands of international importance.

Nessrine in her element

Despite her many years hiking and scuba diving around the Emirates, Nessrine finds she is still learning, and a highlight memory of her involvement with ENHG was a geological field trip and wadi hike at this year’s Inter Emirates Weekend in Dubai: “I’ve been here for 22 years and I’m still learning new things. I didn’t know that you could learn about six distinct geological periods and drive to see intact structural examples all in one day.”

Nessrine enjoying nature

Arabella’s top experience at ENHG was IEW 2018, when Abu Dhabi hosted members from around the UAE, particularly meeting ENHG patron Sheikh Nayahan and hearing him speak at the 40th anniversary dinner. It is also Arabella’s dulcet tones you will hear on our podcast, which can fulfill your craving for natural history in between lectures.

Arabella recently won a Pride of Abu Dhabi Leadership Award for her community education efforts, particularly involving turtles. She was Head of Conservation and Community Engagement at the Park Hyatt Abu Dhabi from 2012-2018, where she became the resident turtle specialist, setting up groups of community volunteers to complement the Saadiyat Security Team’s Turtle Patrol—a group that treks the length of Saadiyat Beach spotting nests, relocating eggs, and rescuing turtles in distress.

Now a Conservation Education Consultant at Emirates Nature-WWF, Arabella is currently working on a project called Connect with Nature with Environment Agency Abu Dhabi, engaging Emirati youth in nature and sustainable living.

Turtle rescue

Both women have contributed to conservation in the UAE through their  passionate approach to their professional work and their warm and welcoming leadership style as they steer the ENHG into its fifth decade.

Speaking of her own love of nature in the UAE, Nessrine articulates the very reason that many of our members come to the ENHG: 

“Nature in the UAE is unique, and not obviously apparent. We have to look closely and make an effort to know that there is life there, even though it’s a desert.”