MUSCAT, OCT 27 - A high-profile Omani delegation ensured the 2018 Oman Natural Heritage Lecture at the Royal Geographical Society in London this week achieved significant scientific prominence with Sayyid Badr bin Hamad al Busaidi, Secretary-General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, at the forefront. Opening this, the third annual event of its kind, Al Busaidi explained to the audience that, “The environment has been a high priority in Oman for a very long time. We were truly blessed that His Majesty the Sultan had the vision and foresight to establish an Office for Conservation of the Environment as long ago as the early 1970s.”
He noted too that, “in 1984, a full-scale Ministry of Environment and Climate Affairs was established, the first in the region,” and that the event was made all the more special because several of those who were involved in these early initiatives were present, and that the natural heritage we have today is a reflection of the foresight and hard work of those individuals. In offering that none who plant a tree do so for their own benefit, he was fulsome in his praise of the earlier movers in Oman’s conservation sector.
The event was organised in the UK by Dr Roderic Dutton, Sean Nelson, Rob Baldwin and Nigel Winser by kind permission of Yasser al Salami, Director General of the Office for the Conservation of the Environment, of the Diwan of Royal Court.
Chairpersons for the evening were Hadi al Hickmani from the Office for the Conservation of the Environment, and Dr Nigel Winser of the Royal Geographical Society, while the speakers were Haitham al Rawahi on the Arabian Tahr Conservation Program, Sayyid Taimur al Said on the Nubian Ibex, and Dr Mansoor Hamed al Jadhami, on the Sultanate’s current environmental training and educational projects.
Other high-profile attendees included: Abdulaziz Abdullah al Hinai, Oman’s Ambassador in London, Issa al Shibani, First Secretary of the Embassy, Dr Saif al Shaqsi, Director of the National Field Research Centre for Environmental Conservation, Stuart Laing, Chairman of the Anglo Omani Society, Robert Alston, CMG, Vice-President of the Anglo Omani Society, and Professor Robert Allison, Vice Chancellor and President, Loughborough University, UK.
Dr Nigel Winser, representing the ogranisers said, “The annual Oman Heritage Lectures at the Royal Geographical Society Oman are showcasing the effective conservation work by a growing number of dedicated field scientists from the Office for Conservation of the Environment (OCE), the Ministry of Environment and Climate Affairs (MECA), the National Field Research Centre for Environmental Conservation (NFRCEC), the Oman Botanic Gardens (OBG) and the Environment Society of Oman (ESO) and this bodes well for the future of Oman’s distinctive natural heritage, that will be valued and enjoyed by Oman nationals and visiting tourists for many generations to come.”
Ray Petersen
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