The Plover

The world's dangerous addiction to plastic is well-publicized, with plastic being found in the most remote regions of the Antarctic and even in the Marianna Trench. In April, the ENHG had the privilege of a lecture from Aline Gubri, a specialist in the zero-waste lifestyle.  Aline holds a Master's Degree in Sustainable Development from La Sorbonne University (Paris), and has consulted on zero waste and sustainable practices in the United States, France and around the world.  Her 2017 book "Zero Plastic Zero Toxic" has sold over 14,000 copies, and is a practical guide to reducing waste and getting over our addiction to plastic to reduce our environmental impact and protect our health.  Image from here . Her blog Consommons Sainement (consume healthily) shares advice and tips on responsible consumption, zero waste and minimalism in a common-sense way that has attracted a community of 50,000 regular readers. Refuse, Refuse, Refuse The 4 pri...

Dr. Felicita Hornung, Acting Chair of the Ras Al Khaimaha NHG (L) and ENHG Co-Chair Nessrine Alzahlawi (R) with the Sheikh Mubarak Award trophy. This year’s Inter-Emirates Weekend was hosted by the Dubai Natural History Group, and alongside the field trips to points of natural history interest within Sharjah and Dubai, the annual awards ceremony saw three outstanding people recognized for their work in understanding and promoting the natural history of the UAE.   Huw Roberts and his wife, Marion Sheikh Mubarak Award The Sheikh Mubarak Award was instituted by His Excellency Sheikh Nahayan Bin Mubarak Al Nahayan in recognition of his late father, and recognizes substantial, original contributions to knowledge of the history, natural history, culture, archaeology or paleontology of the UAE.   This year, the silver eagle went to Huw Roberts, an English instructor at UAE University who has authored and co-authored several articles on birds and other wild...

We recently had the pleasure of hearing a lecture from Dr. Ada Natoli about how her study of the genetics of Hawksbill Turtles is contributing to conservation of the species in the UAE and the wider Gulf region.   Dr. Natoli is a molecular biologist and professor at Zayed University, as well as the Founder and Director of the UAE Dolphin Project, a monitoring and education programme that has also received funding from the ENHG grants programme in the past.   Her forensic genetics research is designed to glean specific knowledge about the population of Hawksbills in the Gulf, without which it is difficult to design effective programmes to protect them. Since all seven species of sea turtles world-wide are endangered, intelligent conservation is a must. All images from this Time Out Abu Dhabi story featuring ENHG Co-Chair Arabella Willing There are currently no population estimates for the Gulf region, despite nesting sites being present in I...

At the end of our season last year, we had the pleasure of a lecture from Dr. Mark Beech, on the UAE's most prominent archaeologists, who gave us an overview of his top 10 discoveries during his time as a paleo-archaeologist in the UAE, from 1994, when he first fell in love with the country, to the present day. Dr. Beech is of course well known as a member of the team that discovered the Sir Bani Yas church and monastery complex, which now numbers 40 sites, among them courtyard houses, a monastery and villas. (Incidentally, the site was first discovered by an ENHG member, Caroline Layman, who found plaster in a llama pen on the island during a joint ENHG-DNHG field trip!) However, many of us are not aware of Dr. Beech’s ground-breaking discoveries in paleo-archaeology, which put the UAE on the map for some very significant finds. In this post, then, we will look at numbers 6-10 on his list of top 10 discoveries. We guarantee you’ll learn somet...