MUSCAT — Rebecca Irvin, director, Rolex Awards for Enterprise, has called for more participation from Omani institutions, organisations and individuals working in the areas of environment, culture and heritage, exploration and science to participate in the 32-year-old Rolex Awards programme.

Speaking at a media briefing held at Grand Hyatt yesterday, she said: “The world should know more about Oman’s commendable initiatives in environment and heritage conservation. Oman is home to many outstanding endeavours in culture and heritage preservation and environmental conservation, and is certainly a model in the Gulf.”

Presented every two years, Rolex Awards for Enterprise, initiated in 1976, aims at fostering a spirit of enterprise in individuals around the world by supporting outstanding efforts in areas that advance human knowledge and well-being.

The awards provide financial assistance to people embarking on new ventures or pursuing ongoing projects, individuals who typically work outside the mainstream and often have no access to traditional funding sources.

The five winning applicants (laureates) get $100,000 and five runner-up applicants (associate laureates) get $50,000 as prize money.

Traditionally held in world capitals, including New York, Tokyo, Paris and Singapore, and in Geneva, home to Rolex, the international prize-giving ceremony for the first time will take place at Madinat Jumeirah Resort in Dubai on November 18, 2008.

Irvin informed that the awards typically receive between 1,500 and 2,000 entries from more than 100 countries per series.

“But the Middle East and North Africa nations have historically yielded the fewest applicants”, she pointed out.

Last year, Irvin explained, Rolex of Geneva chose to focus special attention on the MENA countries, reaching out to governments, NGOs, academia and individuals across the region.

“The outreach efforts drew 138 applications from the Gulf, Levant and North Africa, a 294 per cent increase in the region over the previous years. But only two of those applications came from Oman,” she said.

“With all that we have seen and learned about Oman, its priorities and the strong, valuable projects under way around the country, we are confident that future editions of the Rolex Awards will better reflect the level and quality of activity here,” Irvin added.

Irvin, who visited Oman Botanical Garden yesterday, met senior representatives from the Office for Conserva-tion of the Environment, Diwan of Royal Court and the Ministry of Environment and Climate Affairs.

Rory Wilson, one of five Rolex Awards laureates in 2006, briefed about his ‘Daily Diary’ device.

He explained the diary helps wildlife professionals determine behaviour patterns, location and, for the first time, energy expenditure of different species.

Wilson, the man behind the revolutionary tracking system, spoke about its development, its success with mammals, birds and fish in diverse environments, and recent testing on the Arabian leopard in Oman.

Lamees Daar, executive director, Environment Society of Oman, was present at the media briefing.

She said: “Rolex’s decision to recognise work in the region and support projects will help advance the larger environment agenda as well as demonstrate that there are no national boundaries when it comes to conversation.”

Hadi Al Hikmani, from the Office for Conservation of the Environment, Diwan of Royal Court, who was present, said: “We are keen to continue working with the ‘Daily Diary’ project, as it will help us address the real issues that endanger the survival of the leopard.”



Tracking Arabian leopards



Times News Service

MUSCAT — “The ‘Daily Diary’ device is really an opportunity for the wildlife professionals of the region to know closely about their wildlife,” Rory Wilson, one of the five Rolex Awards laureates in 2006 for inventing the world’s first cross-species logger system for wild animals, said yesterday.

The logger, which has been used to monitor lemon sharks in the Caribbean, seals in Antarctic seas, cheetahs in Namibia, along with penguins, whales and cormorants, has also been tested in Oman on the Arabian leopard.

Wilson’s revolutionary tracking device, comparable to a tiny black box flight recorder, is able to monitor an animal’s position, heading and speed, and generate a daily diary of its activity. The diary helps wildlife professionals determine behaviour patterns, location and, for the first time, energy expenditure of different species.

“It will also enable governments and organisations to better understand and protect the at-risk species,” he said.

Rolex Awards winner Rory Wilson is already using the revolutionary tracking device on the Arabian leopard.

Informing that the initial tests had been conducted on Arabian leopards in captivity at Omani Mammals Breeding Centre, he said the next step is to deploy the technology on leopards in the wild.

“After tracking the movement of the Arabian leopard in captivity we have found that the device has worked stunningly well,” he said.

“Arabian leopards are charismatic and they are less than 250 on the planet and they are listed as critically endangered on the IUCN (World Conservation Union) Red List. Jabal Samhan in Oman is the stronghold for Arabian leopards and being an endangered they need to be tracked,” he said.

“One of the main threats to the Arabian leopard is retaliatory killings from farmers whose livestock like goats or camels have been killed,” Wilson pointed.

The diary, he said, would be able to show whether the leopards are indeed taking livestock, how much of their diet is made up of livestock versus traditional prey, and provide a comprehensive picture of the animal’s behaviour and stressors.

“It will be like a repository and it will enable government and organisations understand and protect them,” he said.

“The immensely powerful technology can be used on practically any animal or bird and in environments in which conventional GPS systems cannot operate,” he said.