EDA Co-Founder’s Note

HH SHEIKH MOHAMED BIN ZAYED: A LEADER-BORN PRESIDENT, AND A KEEN ENVIRONMENTALIST

I would like to welcome you all to the June issue of ‘Divers for the Environment’. Half of 2022 has already gone and the UAE has lost our beloved President, Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan – may his soul rest in peace and welcome another great leader, HH Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, a leader-born President.

On the 14th of May 2022, the UAE pledged allegiance to the UAE’s new President, His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan as the leader of the nation’s march, amidst a deep belief in his ability to continue to forge ahead with the nation’s illustrious drive of glory, development and construction. Guided by the directives of the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan and the late Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, HH Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed helped develop the UAE Armed Forces in terms of strategic planning, training, organisational structure and promoting defence capabilities. Sheikh Mohamed’s direct guidance and leadership led the UAE Armed Forces to become a leading institution that is widely admired by many international military organisations.

His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, is a leader of high calibre who made a difference at the local level, and achieved remarkable milestones in terms of promoting peace and security, regionally and globally, while spreading tolerance and peaceful coexistence between religions and societies, and setting an example to be emulated for humanitarian work.

His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed has been a champion of environmental issues and is expected to lead the region and the world towards saving our precious world, and making sustainability a way of life as seen from his policies and personal perspective.

He initiated the Mohamed bin Zayed Species Conservation Fund, an innovative philanthropy providing small grants to boots-on-theground, get-your-hands-dirty, and in-the-field species conservation projects for the world’s most threatened species.

Through innovative micro-financing, the Fund empowers conservationists to fight the extinction crisis without getting bogged down by bureaucracy and red tape. To date it has awarded over 2,000 grants to a diverse range of species across the world.

The fund has opened its platform to support conservationists based in all parts of the world and will potentially aid projects focused on any and all kinds of plant,animal and fungus species, subject to the approval of an independent evaluation committee.

In addition, it recognises leaders in the field of species conservation and scientific research to ensure their important work is given the attention it deserves, and to elevate the importance of species in global conservation discourse.

In 2019, the fund supported 170 projects selected from 1,647 grant applications. The selected projects, located in over 60 different countries across six continents, shared $1,502,029 in funding.

The diving industry and community have been busy the last 6 months, and I am sure they will be even busier in the next 6. We’ve just held the 13th year cycle of Digital Online – EDA’s Underwater Photography and Film Competition’s Awards Night to announce this year’s winners. It was our first in person awards night since Covid which took place at Deep Dive Dubai, and it was a full house event. It was great to meet and talk to the members and catch up as we used to. I thank all our underwater photography and videography participants for sending EDA their amazing images of the varied marine life from all the places they have dived. They are very inspiring and beautiful, as always. I am sure you will all agree with me when you see the photos in this issue. I also want to thank the judges, the sponsors, and the EDA team for another successful EDA event towards promoting for diving, not only in the UAE, but all over the world.

In other good news, Reef Check is back and one of our great EDA members, Ms Rania Shawki Mostafa will be leading it, so get ready to dive for another good cause.

As we stand today and take stock of the half year gone by, we acknowledge each and every EDA partner, the dive centres, and our supporters and members for their vital support through one of the most challenging periods on record. It is this spirit of symbiotic partnership that remains at the heart of our journey to inspiring people to care about the oceans, as we look beyond this present moment in time.

I do hope you enjoy reading our summer issue.We look forward to seeing you all at the next EDA events.