NAJIB
SAAB
Citation - Global 500 Award - June 2003
Through
Al-Bia Wal-Tanmia (Environment and Development) magazine, which he
launched as a private initiative, Najib Saab has triggered an unprecedented
environmental public awareness campaign in the Middle East, bringing
environmental concerns to the Arab public-at-large and creating a
regional environmental advocacy forum. The influential magazine now
has a circulation of 38,500 in 22 countries. It is used in schools,
and its articles are a main reference for environmental curricula.
Saab's editorials on sustainable development issues in the Middle
East are syndicated to 10 daily newspapers.
Al-Bia Wal-Tanmia sponsors more than 360 environmental clubs in schools,
and supports them with education materials and training. Mr. Saab
has also produced a weekly environmental education television programme
entitled Environment Club - a pioneering effort in the region. The
magazine organizes environmental conferences in different parts of
the region.
Mr. Saab has succeeded, again through his own initiative, to build
around the magazine a pan-Arab environmental movement, which strongly
helped place the environment on the agenda of both the public and
the private sectors. By creating a vibrant environmental forum, he
has accomplished what official bodies in the region could not satisfactorily
develop over the years.
Bio
Data
NAJIB
SAAB
Publisher
and Editor-in-Chief, Al-Bia Wal-Tanmia (Environment and Development)
magazine.
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Born in Beirut, Lebanon in 1953 to a family of literature and publishing,
Najib Saab studied architecture, mass communications and political
science at the American University of Beirut (AUB). While at AUB,
he also wrote for An-Nahar newspaper (1972-1977), published a university
magazine named Wujhat Nazar (Point of View), and initiated a rural
development project in south Lebanon. After graduation he joined
the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) as regional information
officer for West Asia. In 1979, he started his environmental design
consultancy in Beirut, and in 1982 founded the Middle East Centre
for the Transfer of Appropriate Technology (MECTAT). His architecture
career took him all over the Middle East, before settling with his
family in the Netherlands, until he returned to Lebanon in 1995,
where he lectured at the American University of Beirut, pursued
his architecture career, and was deeply involved in regional environmental
activities. All over this period he continued, as consultant, to
advise UNEP and other agencies on environment and sustainable development
policy issues. In 1996 Najib Saab launched Al-Bia Wal-Tanmia (Environment
and Development) as the first pan-Arab mass circulation magazine
on environment. His monthly commentary is published in 10 newspapers
across the Middle East
