UAE divers to answer Lebanon's call for help

While the world's attention rightly focuses on the human cost of the conflict, the natural environment is a silent victim of the war in Lebanon, and there is a shortage of expertise and equipment to deal with oil spills and hazardous marine waste. Equipped with 'lift bags' supplied by Dubai Police, and supported by divers with experience of clean-up operations all over the world, EDA volunteers are eager to get to work.

Al-Zu'bi says: "Members are ready to pay, nobody has said no. They're willing to camp on the beaches if necessary. We'll do the cleaning ourselves, it's what we've been doing for the last 11 years."

Al-Zu'bi and the EDA divers are no strangers to environmental rescue. Now numbering 650 members and 33 dive centres, the group was the first diving association to help with the clean-up in Thailand following the Asian tsunami in December 2004. Its dedication to marine conservation has also inspired projects in Malaysia, Seychelles, Sri Lanka and Africa, from whale shark tagging to releasing turtles.

One of the EDA's priorities in the UAE is protecting the coral reefs of the East Coast and the countless fish and organisms that depend on them. Funded by sponsorship and donations, the EDA is a partner of the UAE Ministry of Environment and an active contributor to the global Reef Check Programme, which also involves the UN.

The EDA's ongoing East Coast reef monitoring has earned two grants from the Middle East's largest private sector environmental programme, the Ford Motor Company Conservation and Environmental Grants. Al-Zu'bi and his team picked up a cheque for US$5,000 last year, and US$7,000 in 2003.

To date, the Ford Grants have awarded more than half a million dollars to non-profit environmental and conservation causes in the Middle East, and the EDA has its eye on more valuable funds this year, the seventh year of the grants in the region.

Says Al-Zu'bi: "The money really helps, but it's also the recognition. Everybody was so happy last year and we all went out to celebrate. The grants are important because they say, keep up the good work guys, we support you!"

The EDA's reef monitoring involves training of divers to international, PADI-approved standards and work at sea to build artificial reefs and fix buoys to demarcate protected areas. The divers also carry out important research to monitor fish stocks and the health of the coral.

The EDA is made up entirely of volunteers and is self-funding. The help of the corporate community is vital, Al-Zu'bi explains, and long-term sponsors like Ford show the credibility and seriousness of the group's work.

The EDA was initiated in 1995 by the instruction of HH Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the late President of the UAE, who identified the importance of diving and the need to preserve the UAE's marine life. More than a decade on and the EDA has plenty of new projects to interest the Ford Grants jurors.

Says Al-Zu'bi: "The policy of Emirates Divers Association is to increase members and reach more people. We also want to reach an awareness point where we can stop doing clean-ups because people realise that throwing away plastic bags could kill dolphins, turtles and marine life."

When it is time to launch the massive environmental clean-up needed in Lebanon, Al-Zu'bi and his fellow volunteer divers will be more than ready to play their part.

The bilingual website www.ford-environmentalgrants.com provides more information on the 2007 Ford Grants. The grants were introduced in the GCC in 2000, and expanded to include Jordan, Lebanon and Syria in 2001. An independent jury of academics, government officials and environmentalists selects winners, and applications this year are accepted until October 19.

The criteria to enter are unchanged. The Ford Grants are open to small-scale, non-profit groups and individuals in the GCC and Levant countries with ongoing projects aimed at the natural environment, environmental education, or conservation engineering. Grants have ranged between US$1,000 and US$15,000, and more than 60 projects have received funding since 2000.

There were 13 winners last year representing Lebanon, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Syria, Qatar and Bahrain. The Grants jurors in 2007 will once again award cash funds from a total pool of US$90,000.

Hussein Murad, Ford Middle East's Sales & Marketing director, said: "The Ford Grants are a pioneering corporate initiative in the Middle East as little coordinated work to protect the environment takes place outside the public sector. Cash donations, like the Ford Grants, allow volunteer groups to allocate resources as they choose and where they're most needed."