Arab states unify UN falconry bid



ABU DHABI // An initiative to register falconry with the UN as a form of cultural heritage is closer to taking flight with Abu Dhabi gaining the support of four other Arab states. The participating countries agreed to submit their bids in a single file to Unesco, the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation on Aug 31. "Our leadership has found it is best for us to submit one file involving all interested Arab countries to register falconry with Unesco," said Dr Sami al Masri, deputy head of the Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage (Adach), which is spearheading the initiative. The announcement came as five Arab countries, including the UAE, prepared to finalise their bids during all-day workshops on Wednesday at the Shangri-La Hotel. The other participating countries were Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Morocco and Syria. About 65 nations practise training birds of prey for hunting game. "This is the first such initiative from the region, and it will be the largest joint submission file" to the Unesco heritage panel, said Dr Awadh Saleh, international organisations affairs expert at Adach. The Unesco Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage aims to preserve traditional craftsmanship, ancient languages, social practices, rituals and festivities and traditional performing arts. Signatories pledge to look after a particular aspect of heritage, whether through laws, grants or favourable treatment of practitioners, experts said. Before the presentation to the UN, the International Festival of Falconry will give a chance for the UAE to show its falconry heritage to the rest of the world. The event, to be held on July 11-12 at Englefield Estate near Reading, in southern England, is organised by the UK Hawk Board, and the Emirates Falconers' Club is a major sponsor. Each of the 50 nations taking part will have its own camp, showcasing unique facets of falconry and hunting. The UAE's will feature displays of camels, Arabian horses, and the traditional hunting hounds, salukis. The club is looking for volunteers to explain the country's heritage and traditions to an expected 10,000 to 20,000 visitors. Sheikh Sultan bin Tahnoun, the chairman of the Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority, will be there with other high-level delegates from the UAE. About 500 schoolchildren from Abu Dhabi are also scheduled to visit the exhibits and learn about the differences between Arabian and European falconry. The International Fund for Houbara Conservation, set up by the Abu Dhabi Government to protect the prized houbara bustard through a captive breeding programme, will be another focus of the festival. People in the UAE have been hunting with falcons for generations. With the arrival of oil wealth in the 1960s an 1970s, hunting evolved from a necessity to a hobby. But the rapid rise in population and new wealth meant hunting started to harm the environment. Previously, hunters would trap wild falcons in autumn and release them in spring. But the availability of air conditioning made it possible to keep the birds in captivity. Conservationists also have criticised wealthy Gulf falconers for fuelling the illegal trade in endangered species. The saker, peregrine and gyr falcons are the three species most popular with hunters. According to the Red List of Endangered Species, drawn up by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, the saker's future is in jeopardy, with about 4,000 birds trapped each year in Saudi Arabia, and 500 to 1,000 in each of the other Gulf states. In the UAE there are virtually no wild falcons left, although countries such as Qatar and Saudi Arabia are still using wild birds, many of them trapped illegally. Some governments, such as that of Mongolia, have instituted a legal quota. In 1995 Sheikh Zayed, the founding president of the UAE, started a falcon-release programme in which birds belonging to members of the royal family and those confiscated from smugglers were released in Pakistan. Between 80 and 100 birds are freed every year through the programme. relass@thenational.ae

Vidaamuyarchi

Director: Magizh Thirumeni

Stars: Ajith Kumar, Arjun Sarja, Trisha Krishnan, Regina Cassandra

Rating: 4/5

 

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UAE squad

Humaira Tasneem (c), Chamani Senevirathne (vc), Subha Srinivasan, NIsha Ali, Udeni Kuruppuarachchi, Chaya Mughal, Roopa Nagraj, Esha Oza, Ishani Senevirathne, Heena Hotchandani, Keveesha Kumari, Judith Cleetus, Chavi Bhatt, Namita D’Souza.

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Man of the Match: Djibril Sidibe (Everton)

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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Countdown to Zero exhibition will show how disease can be beaten

Countdown to Zero: Defeating Disease, an international multimedia exhibition created by the American Museum of National History in collaboration with The Carter Center, will open in Abu Dhabi a  month before Reaching the Last Mile.

Opening on October 15 and running until November 15, the free exhibition opens at The Galleria mall on Al Maryah Island, and has already been seen at the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum in Atlanta, the American Museum of Natural History in New York, and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

 

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'Worse than a prison sentence'

Marie Byrne, a counsellor who volunteers at the UAE government's mental health crisis helpline, said the ordeal the crew had been through would take time to overcome.

“It was worse than a prison sentence, where at least someone can deal with a set amount of time incarcerated," she said.

“They were living in perpetual mystery as to how their futures would pan out, and what that would be.

“Because of coronavirus, the world is very different now to the one they left, that will also have an impact.

“It will not fully register until they are on dry land. Some have not seen their young children grow up while others will have to rebuild relationships.

“It will be a challenge mentally, and to find other work to support their families as they have been out of circulation for so long. Hopefully they will get the care they need when they get home.”

The bio

Favourite vegetable: Broccoli

Favourite food: Seafood

Favourite thing to cook: Duck l'orange

Favourite book: Give and Take by Adam Grant, one of his professors at University of Pennsylvania

Favourite place to travel: Home in Kuwait.

Favourite place in the UAE: Al Qudra lakes

Cryopreservation: A timeline
  1. Keyhole surgery under general anaesthetic
  2. Ovarian tissue surgically removed
  3. Tissue processed in a high-tech facility
  4. Tissue re-implanted at a time of the patient’s choosing
  5. Full hormone production regained within 4-6 months