Sheikh Nahyan awards naturalists for environmental work

Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak, the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Community Development, presenting awards to Sonja Lavrencic and Dr Richard Hornby yesterday in Abu Dhabi. Ravindranath K / The National

ABU DHABI // Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak, Minister of Culture, Youth and Community Development, has awarded two naturalists from the Emirates Natural History Group for raising awareness on natural history and heritage.

“As Sheikh Zayed himself noted in his address on the occasion of the UAE first Environment Day, protection of the environment is not just a task for government. It is something in which everyone in the UAE, citizens and expatriates, should play their part,” Sheikh Nahyan said.

“All of us who live here face the challenge of how to make sustainable use of our environmental resources. That requires innovation, awareness and research,” Sheikh Nahyan said at a ceremony to mark the presentation of the annual Sheikh Mubarak bin Mohammed Prize for natural history.

The first award was presented to Dr Richard Hornby, a partner in the Abu Dhabi-based Nautica Environmental Services and a former chairman of the Emirates Natural History Group, (ENHG) for scientific research and publication on aspects of UAE wildlife.

“I’d like to emphasise that there are a lot of things that we still don’t know about the plant and animal life here, don’t think it’s all known, and if someone wants to study something in some depth there are opportunities here,” he said.

Dr Hornby has been taking advantage of those opportunities since 1992, when he first came to the UAE and became chairman of the group in Abu Dhabi.

He was involved in publishing the internationally threatened species list for birds of the UAE to categorise their conservation statuses – typically the first step in the process of preserving endangered and vulnerable species. And more recently, Dr Hornby has been involved in completing a habitat map using satellite imagery, which took him around Abu Dhabi to trace and record the lives of animals in the emirate. “This is a great honour. I suppose it’s a recognition that I’ve been involved in this sort of work for a long time,” the Briton said.

A second prize, the Bish Brown award, named after the ENHG founder, was presented to Sonja Lavrencic, from Slovenia, for her efforts to promote awareness of the UAE’s environment. A member of the Dubai ENHG, she has for many years organised field trips into the mountains and deserts to study wildlife. “I like exploring nature and I like to take people with me to show them what I’ve found or what I’ve learnt from other people,” she said. Her field trips include organised visits around metropolitan cultural sites, natural expeditions into mountain areas and archaeological sites near the border with Oman.

During the summer, she said, the groups avoid the heat by organising trips around Dubai. The last included a walking tour of Old Deira and a trip to the calligraphy museum. Those who want become members can contact the Abu Dhabi or Dubai groups on their Facebook pages.

“It’s great to be recognised for this effort, which for me, is really no effort at all,” she said.