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Book Unveils Beauty of Arabian Flora & Fauna Najib Saab urges preservation of environment by: Jessy Chahine Daily Star, 13 November 2002 With rapid urbanization, and modern life led increasingly in the cities, people are losing their love of nature. And in the Arab world, nature is either carelessly ignored or savagely brutalized. Najib Saab's Nature Book is a journey rediscovering the region's natural habitats in all their diversity, showing the richness of Arab fauna and flora and urging its preservation. A leading environmental activist in the region, Saab explains that Westerners often perceive the Arab world as just a desert. However, he says Arabs bear a major part of the responsibility for this misconception. "If they themselves are not aware of the richness of their soil, how can they make the rest of the world realize it?" Saab asks. But hope, he insists, is the main theme of his book. "True, many aspects of nature have been destroyed," Saab says, "but there are many, many elements that still deserve to be preserved. There is still hope for the future." A journey creating visual awareness through Arabia, Saab's book is not meant to be a systematic study. "I just wanted to show examples of what is there, and through these pictures stimulate people to preserve their environmental testimony," he says. It is an invitation on multiple levels: It encourages Arabs to discover the beauties of their own countries, and those around them, and it invites "foreigners to come and see the richness of our lands. It is also an invitation for each one of us to preserve this richness," Saab says. Nature Book describes, in brief notes and photography, examples of biodiversity, notable sites, and programs of conservation by various Arab countries. Editor in chief and publisher of the monthly Al-Bia wal-Tanmia (Environment and Development), Saab assembled a selection of the best photo features published in the magazine, as well as other pictures taken especially for the book. The pictures show 22 different landscapes, starting with Lebanon and focusing on the Levant and the Gulf. All through the book, a message of environmental welfare is emphasized. To this purpose, Saab challenges the reader to take responsible action. When talking about the Lebanese cedars, for instance, Saab goes wild with spiny adjectives and sharp clauses: "Previously covering vast areas of Lebanon … the remaining cedars are gathered in a limited number of forests … Left to themselves, spared the intervention of man and goats, cedars could multiply more easily," he continues. Classifying environmental welfare as a political responsibility, Saab also cites examples of projects that bring nature back to cities, and the highways that connect them. Listing examples of nature reserves in Arab countries, Saab tackles the roles of governmental and nongovernmental bodies in this revival. As such, Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan, president of the UAE, is praised for his efforts in transforming Sir Bani Yas, one of the hundreds of islands belonging to the UAE, into a "lush oasis amid the waters of the Gulf. The National Commission for Wildlife Conservation and Development in Saudi Arabia is also praised for its work in the Ourouq Bani Maared, the largest desert on earth. The current boom in plant and animal life there is the direct result of the commission's work against hunting and abuse of the desert's resources. As the book nears its end, Saab emphasizes that the task of preserving nature is not contradictory to technology and human progress. "Civilization does not conflict with nature preservation," he says. Saab concludes his book with the city of Abu Dhabi whose planned streets, he writes, include "modern buildings that respect tradition, and public gardens and trees lining the sides of all streets." After three decades of tree-planting and modernization, Abu Dhabi ranked third in an international urban contest in 1997. Saab's book demonstrates, through its pictures, how what might appear to be little more than a vast desert actually includes some stunning habitats.