Emirates Natural History Group

Jane has been a part of the Abu Dhabi Global Environmental Data Initiative (AGEDI) team since the organisation’s inception in 2003. Inaugurated in 2002, AGEDI was formed to facilitate quality environmental data that equips policy-makers with actionable, timely information to inform and guide critical decisions. AGEDI works in close coordination with long-term partners Environment Agency- Abu Dhabi (EAD) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) to maximise information exchange for improved decision-making at the local, national, regional and global levels.

Dr Richard Perry is a zoologist by training with a doctorate in “Evolutionary Population Dynamics”, although these days he is more involved in organisational development at the Environment Agency Abu Dhabi. He is an advisor in the Secretary General’s Office and Chairman of the Research and Technical Committee. His this presentation to the ENHG he covered the “Abu Dhabi State of Environment Report 2017”, for which he was project manager. The “AD-SoER 2017” took around 18 months to compile and involved teams of experts from within the Agency, as well as input from external experts and reviewers. Richard will describe the process undertaken, some of the findings and some of the lessons learnt. Richard is a keen advocate of citizen science and would welcome ideas and contributions.

Raj is one of a select few individuals that has successfully climbed, unguided, the highest mountain on every continent in the world. He now uses his experience to help others achieve; safely guiding and inspiring those under his charge to fulfil their dreams and ambitions. For example, he was asked to lead the Celebrity BBC Comic Relief climb on Mount Kilimanjaro. In this feature BBC1 documentary, he commendably led the likes of Cheryl Fernandez- Versini (formerly Cheryl Cole), Gary Barlow, Chris Moyles and a host of other celebrities to the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro. In doing so, Raj helped the celebrity team raise £3.3 million pounds from this expedition alone to fight malaria in East Africa. Raj speaks about his various expeditions and what he has gained from them. There will be a special focus on summiting Mount Everest ten years ago. Raj was fortunate enough to stay safe whilst on his way up to base camp when the devastating earthquake hit Nepal. In this talk he will go through this experience, and how he continues to help with the disaster relief operations. We are extremely grateful to Elegant Resorts for providing this opportunity for Dr Raj Joshi to speak to the ENHG

In 2017 the Emirates Natural History Group, the UAE’s oldest environmental non-governmental organisation, celebrated its 40th Anniversary. To mark the occasion, Peter Hellyer, a Life Member of the Group and a former Chairman, as well as author or editor of numerous books on the UAE’s natural history and archaeology, gave a talk to the Group on his memories of many years of involvement with the country’s history and heritage. A collection of anecdotes and tales of discovery, the talk took the format of a discussion with current Group Chairman Arabella Willing