$1.1 million granted since 2000 to more than 130 local grass-root level environmental initiatives.
BEIRUT, Lebanon, 27 January, 2011 - Two projects in Lebanon working to intensify awareness on local and regional environmental concerns have been awarded each US$10,000 from the Ford Motor Company Conservation & Environmental Grants.
Animal Encounter, a group focused on encouraging the interaction of communities with the Lebanese wildlife through seminars and unique interaction with animals since 2006 received a $10,000 grant for their project Long Term Effect of Zoo Education on Wildlife Conservation.
In the short-term, the encounter with animals has proven effective in influencing the attitudes of students and the public at large. The Grants will help bring 2000 students of public schools from different Lebanese Governorates to the Animal Encounter with follow up visits to their schools.
Urbanisation and agriculture have had complex relationships over the years as both compete for the same diminishing resources. With the publications twice a year in Arabic of "Urban Agriculture in the Middle East and North Africa" and its corresponding website in English and Arabic, there is now a resource for all news and information related to urban agriculture in the region.
The publications - initiatives of the Environment and Sustainable Development Unit of the Resource Centre on Urban Agriculture in the Middle East and North Africa - also provide a medium for sharing information on the roles and impact of urban agriculture, promotes analysis and forums on critical issues and training material for workshops, among others.
The grants received by Dr Salwa Tawk, the leader of this initiative, for US$10,000 will be invested in the production of two issues of the magazine and in hosting the website and updating it for another year.
"Raising environmental awareness through unique mediums is certainly a great boost in educating the community on the perils of neglecting the environment we live in," said Hussein Murad, director of Sales at Ford Middle East.
"Through the Ford Grants and the legacy of Henry Ford who was in the business of not only creating good products, but also goodwill, we give back to our local communities where we serve," added Murad.
The Ford Motor Company Conservation and Environmental Grants is a grass-root level programme that has offered US$1.1 million in grants to over 130 Middle Eastern environmental projects since its launch in 2000.
In the Middle East, the initiative has seen support from various governmental and non-governmental environmental authorities including the World Wide Fund for Nature, the Emirates Wildlife Society, the Arab Forum for Environment & Development (AFED) and most recently, the UNESCO Doha.
An independent panel of nine jurors consisting of academics, as well as experts from environmental ministries and agencies choose the winning projects that demonstrated a well-defined sense of purpose, a commitment to maximizing available resources, and a reputation for meeting objectives and delivering planned programmes and services.
Each year, the Ford Grants make a total of US$100,000 available to individuals, community and non-profit groups that have projects currently running in the areas of preservation of the natural environment, environmental education and conservation engineering. The programme is open to applicants from Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria and the United Arab Emirates.
Since the programme's launch over a decade ago, Ford has awarded more than US$2,000,000 in grants to over 300 high-quality projects throughout Asia Pacific, Caribbean, Central America, Middle East and Puerto Rico to further their environmental initiatives.
For enquiries regarding the Ford Motor Company Conservation & Environmental Grants, please write to fmegrant@ford.com.
Following are the recipients of the 2010 Ford Motor Company Conservation & Environmental Grants, GCC and Levant Chapter:
Jordan:
- Jordan Environment Society, for their project: Eco-Students Network; Category: Environmental Education. Grant awarded: $10,000
- Badia Center for Ecological Education, for their project: Capacity building and Public awareness; Category: Environmental Education. Grant awarded: $10,000
Lebanon:
- Dr Salwa Tawk, for her project: Arabic version of Urban Agriculture in the Middle East and North Africa magazine; Category: Natural Environment and Environmental Education. Grant awarded: $10,000
- Animal Encounter, for their project: Long Term effect of zoo education on wildlife conservation; Category: Environmental Education. Grant awarded: $10,000
Oman:
- Biosphere Expeditions, for their project: Dhofar Arabian Leopard Project (previous winner); Category: Natural Environment. Grant awarded: $12,000
- Biosphere Expeditions, for their project: Musandam Coral Reef Project; Category: Natural Environment. Grant awarded: $10,000
- Environment Society of Oman, for their project: Community Education on Masirah Island, Oman, the World's Largest Loggerhead Turtle Rookery; Category: Natural Environment. Grant awarded: $7,000
From Qatar:
- College of the North Atlantic, for their project: Build an Environmental Research Robot to clean the beach at Ras Laffan Industrial City; Category: Natural Environment. Grant awarded: $15,000
From the UAE:
- Emirates Diving Association, for their project: Reef Check; Category: Natural Environment. Grant awarded: $9,000
- International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), for their project: Prevention of illegal trade of animals in ME region. Category: Natural Environment. Grant awarded: $7,000
-Ends-
About Ford Motor Company
Ford Motor Company, a global automotive industry leader based in Dearborn, Mich., manufactures or distributes automobiles across six continents. With about 163,000 employees and about 70 plants worldwide, the company's automotive brands include Ford and Lincoln. The company provides financial services through Ford Motor Credit Company. For more information regarding Ford's products, please visit www.ford.com.
Ford's history in the Middle East goes back to over 60 years. The company's local importer-dealers operate more than 100 facilities in the region and directly employ over 7,000 people, the majority of whom are Arab Nationals. For more information on Ford Middle East, please visit www.me.ford.com.
Ford Middle East is also a responsible corporate citizen in the region, with the Ford Motor Company Conservation & Environmental Grants, a grass-root level program that has offered US$1.1 million in grants to over 130 Middle Eastern environmental projects since 2000. For more information on the Ford Grants please write to fmegrant@ford.com
Sue Nigoghossian
Ford Middle East Public Affairs
971-50-454-3640
971-4-3327767
snigogho@ford.com
Chloe Martinez
ASDA'A
971-50-544-8536
971-4-335-5969
c.c.martinez@asdaa.com
Tarek ElMoukachar
ASDA'A
971-50-4281826
971-4-335-5969
t.elmoukachar@asdaa.com
© Press Release 2011
