Rolex Awards for Enterprise head applauds Oman initiatives in environment, heritage conservation

Rebecca Irvin, the Rolex Awards for Enterprise director, encouraged Omani institutions, organizations and individuals working in the areas of environment, culture and heritage, exploration and science to participate in the 32-year-old programme, and shared Rolex's progress in supporting these fields around the world with journalists, NGOs and government representatives during her first visit to the country.

"Oman is home to many outstanding endeavours in culture and heritage preservation and environmental conservation, and is certainly a model in the Gulf," Irvin said at a media briefing held in Muscat recently.

"It is particularly encouraging to see so many young Omani nationals involved at the grassroots level. We are confident that the rest of the world wants to hear these stories of progress, enterprise and innovation, and we are here today to actively encourage more participation from Oman in future editions of the Rolex Awards."

For the past three decades, the Rolex Awards have assisted men and women around the world who are quietly advancing human knowledge and well-being through pioneering work in five broad areas: science and medicine, technology and innovation, exploration and discovery, the environment, and cultural heritage.

The Awards typically receive between 1,500 and 2,000 entries from more than 100 countries per series; the Middle East and North Africa nations have historically yielded the fewest applicants.

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.

A decision was also made to hold the Rolex Awards global prize-giving ceremony in the Middle East for the first time, in Dubai on November 18, 2008.

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

"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 the Oman Botanic Garden, met with senior representatives from the Office for Conservation of the Environment, Diwan of Royal Court, and the Ministry of Environment and Climate Affairs.

Rolex Awards winner Rory Wilson was also in Oman as part of Rolex's goal to share the knowledge accumulated over the programme's history.

Wilson, a zoologist and professor, was named one of five Rolex Awards Laureates in 2006 for inventing the world's first cross-species logger system for wild animals.

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.

As many conservation issues involve animals that are expending too much energy, Wilson's device is vitally important.

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.

"One of the main threats to the Arabian leopard is retaliatory killings from farmers whose livestock have been killed," Wilson explained.

"The diary would be able to show us 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. In short, it enables governments and organizations to better understand and protect its at-risk species."

The immensely powerful technology, which can be used on practically any animal or bird and in environments in which conventional GPS systems cannot operate, could not have been developed without Rolex's support, Wilson said.

The zoologist, who spoke at an Environment Society of Oman lecture organized during his visit, added that while initial tests had been conducted on Arabian leopards in captivity, the next step is to deploy the technology on leopards in the wild.

Hadi al Hikmani, from the Office for Conservation of the Environment, Diwan of Royal Court, said: "We are keen to continue working with the 'Daily Diary' project, as it will help us to address the real issues that endanger the survival of the leopard."

"We are delighted to welcome the Rolex Awards for Enterprise to Oman, and hope this will be the start of many future associations and knowledge-sharing," Al Hikmani added.