Winter 08
The Newsletter of IBSAR - AUB Nature Conservation Center for Sustainable Futures
Biodiversity conservation in rural landscapes: Reviving carob (agri)culture in Lebanon
Native Species Revival
No.23
The
carob
tree
(خروب,
Ceratonia siliqua) is a native to Lebanon and the eastern The
Mediterranean. evergreen
tree
reaches 6-8 meters at maturity, bearing pea-like, black pods that are rich in protein and sugar. Carob seeds, whose mass was thought to be uniform, have given their name to the carat, and were used as units of weight to A sketch, by Dr. Jala Makhzoumi, of the AUB Observatory carob.
measure
diamonds.
gold
and
Domesticated
and grown in the region since antiquity, the tree’s abundant and nutritious fruit explains its biblical name, St. John’s Bread. Just as significantly, carob tree cropping is a sustainable form of agriculture and a living example of economically and environmentally sustainable and efficient use of land and of natural and human resources. Carob trees tolerate aridity, are well suited to the hilly terrain and poor calcareous soils, require no irrigation beyond the first year and minimum care. The tree’s adaptability ensures that carob trees are cultivated in landscapes that are good for little else. Carob landscapes therefore are valuable not only because they are sustainable in themselves but because they conserve soil and water resources in marginal lands. Carob landscapes in addition are economically sustainable: their multifunctional format ensures the annual harvest of carob pods, enables intercropping with grain and provides ample grazing for sheep and goats. The carob pod is processed locally; the flesh is used to produce molasses, the remaining pith used as fodder and the seeds exported to Europe for use in the gum extraction industries. Recent studies indicate that carob landscapes are equally wildlife habitats, a refuge for birds and shelter for wild flora.
Carob agriculture in Lebanon is in decline. Limited processing, limited marketability and competition from intensive cash crops such as citrus and banana have come to undermine and replace this traditional form of agriculture. Ironically, the decline in Lebanon occurs at a time when carob tree cultivation is being advanced in combating desertification in other Mediterranean regions, the USA and Australia, when the carob pod is gaining in popularity as fat-free, chocolate substitute and when gum extraction from carob seeds continues to be as profitable as always. Carob (agri)Culture Project was developed by an interdisciplinary team at IBSAR Center to undertake a multifaceted assessment of carob agriculture in Lebanon. The project justification is the economic benefits to rural communities, livelihoods, indirect ecological and environmental benefits and the versatility of carob pods in various industries, as a dietary supplement, and as a repository of native culture and traditional knowledge that has existed for centuries in Lebanon and the eastern Mediterranean. Seed funds from AUB Taskforce for Reconstruction and Community Services have launched the project with initial research to characterize varieties of carob as a basis for comparison with global markets as well as assessment of quality of carob
Biodiversity Conservation
Jala Makhzoumi
gum in cultivated and wild carob varieties.
IBSAR helps preserve Lebanon’s biodiversity
View from the “Seeds of Hope, Trees for Tomorrow” campaign.
IBSAR has launched its “Seeds of Hope, Trees for Tomorrow” campaign, as part and parcel of the Center’s “Power of Planting” initiative, intended to mobilize community members to participate in planting native trees and shrubs within their own neighborhood . This campaign is aimed at preserving Lebanon’s biodiversity and protecting its natural heritage. This is something that can only be accomplished
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through enabling community members to participate in nature conservation activities. This project’s objective? To secure the genetic resources of native flora for the future, thus creating a field bank analogous to that of ‘Noah’s Ark’ for Arbi Sarkissian
native trees and shrubs in Lebanon.
View from the “Seeds of Hope, Trees for Tomorrow”
Overseas Collaboration
campaign.
IBSAR-AUB and DDTC-Helsinki University seek funding for drug development based on natural products Today’s need for the development of drugs based on natural products is immanent, and IBSAR is active in this sector. It has joined efforts, with the Center of Drug Discovery and Development Technologies (DDTC), Helsinki University (Finland), to establish a collaboration Drs. Nadine Darwiche (sitting),
to facilitate drug research and discovery based on bio-
Najat Saliba and Rabih Talhouk
prospection of natural products for treatment of cancer
on their last day touring the town and relaxing after
and chronic inflammatory disorders. Hosted by DDTC,
a delicious sea-food meal
IBSAR faculty members, Drs. Darwiche, El-Sabban,
provided by the host. (Photo courtesy of Dr. Marwan ElSabban).
Saliba, and R. Talhouk met, on September 13-18, 2007, with faculty members from DDTC and agreed to solicit funds from Finnish, EU and UNDP sources to set up a
collaboration between them, and at later stages, between several EU partners and IBSAR within the framework of FP7 program. A draft document, prepared at the end of the visit, will serve as a backbone for future solicitation of funds. Funds will also be sought for mobility and training of students and to enhance faculty expertise, on either campus, in drug design and drug discovery bio-systems. The group worked very hard over the entire stay, and enjoyed Finnish hospitality as best exemplified by Dr. Urtti, Director of DDTC, and Dr.
Conference Participation
Rabih Talhouk
Vuorela, Vice Dean on research in the Faculty of Pharmacy.
IBSAR participates in Jordan conference Regional and international conferences continue to be an essential item on IBSAR’s annual agenda. IBSAR was invited to, and participated in,
the
Conference
“First of
Regional Traditional
Arabic and Islamic Medicine”, held in Amman from August 7 Dr. Hala Muhtasib during the conference.
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to 10, 2007. Researchers from around the world presented their work and gathered to discuss recent advancements in their fields. Supported by IBSAR, professors Nadine Darwiche, Najat Saliba and Hala Muhtasib, as well as 10 graduate students, and assistants constituted the largest group at the conference. Hala Muhtasib, Chairperson of the Biology Department at AUB and member of IBSAR, was greatly involved in the conference’s events. Muhtasib presented a novel piece of work titled “Thymoquinone: The Blessed Seed Extract” in which she explained this drug’s health benefits, particularly its anticancer effects. She also discussed thymoquinone’s mode of action at the molecular and cellular levels. Two other posters from Muhtasib’s lab were presented. One was titled “Anti-colon Cancer Effects of Salograviolide A isolated from Centaurea ainetensis”, and the other was titled “Combined Treatment of Purified Lebanese Plant Extracts Tf and Ep
Shots from the conference.
Causes Synergistic Growth Inhibition and Apoptosis in Colon Cancer” representing the works of her graduate students Nahed El-Najjar and Mohamed Salla, both of whom received the first‑prize award in their domain of in vitro research among the
Ibsar Elections
Hala Muhtasib
Salma Talhouk
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presented posters.
IBSAR Executive Committee elections This fall, IBSAR faculty elected its executive board for 2007-2008. Membership in the Executive Committee is open to any AUB faculty member who is a Regular Member of IBSAR. The executive committee for this year consists of Drs. Elie Barbour, Jad Chaaban, Marwan El Sabban, Jala Makhzoumi, Najat Saliba, Salma Talhouk, and Rami Zurayk. Soon after the elections, the committee started its regular meetings, and in its first meeting, elected Dr. Salma Tahouk as Chair and Director of the Center. The Executive Committee is the body responsible for coordinating the Center’s work and its committees. Every IBSAR Executive Committee member served a (renewable) three-year term.
Global Events
AUB hosts the launching of the fourth Global Environment Outlook in West Asia A major environmental event launch was hosted by AUB’s West Hall on October 26, 2007: the AUB Environmental Sciences Department, United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), and the United Nations Information
Center
(UNIC)
jointly presented the fourth Global Environment Outlook in West Asia (GEO-4). The GEO-4 launch in Beirut coincided with UNEP’s release of the GEO-4 Report in 27 other cities around the world. From a global
Dr. Rami Zurayk presenting at the GEO-4 launch in West Hall.
perspective, the GEO-4 report is the result of five years of analyses into causes, impacts and policy responses brought on by environmental change, while at the same time suggesting methods for staving off the rapid decline in the Earth’s natural environment. At 572 pages, the GEO-4 report presents the findings of nearly 400 experts from a wide array of fields – both scientific and sociological – with thousands more having vetted the various chapters that went into the final report. AUB was a major contributor to the report. The report includes 10 chapters. It mainstreams 2 critical issues: Global warming and biodiversity. GEO-4 includes a special section on West Asia, where 79% of the land is degraded and 98% of this degradation is caused by people. Severe land use changes are associated with significant decline in biodiversity. There have been serious rehabilitation efforts, especially in rangeland management, reforestation, and the establishment of protected areas. Yet there are still a number of problems, some specific to this part of the world, such as war and security. The Lebanon oil spill caused by Israeli bombardments is testimony to that. The report ended with a global call for action to halt and reverse existing trends, by relying on better science to influence appropriate policies, and deeper public Rami Zurayk
engagement. IBSAR’s objectives and core beliefs fall right into this category.
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Inside Ibsar
IBSAR staff Here’s a chance to meet IBSAR staff, the people without whom IBSAR would not be IBSAR! Different people, different educational backgrounds, but one goal: working for nature conservation and sustainable futures. Khaled Sleem: Born in a mountainous Lebanese village called Nabeh El Safa, meaning “clear spring”, Khaled is an agricultural engineer who graduated from AUB. Bad luck, he says, had led him to work as a salesman in a pesticide company for four years (1996 to 2000). It was in 2001 that he joined AUB as a field coordinator (for the bioprospection project) in charge of plant identification and collection. He was at this same job when IBSAR was founded and continues to be IBSAR’s field coordinator today. “I have always dreamt of working in the research field, especially on environmentally-friendly projects and away from pesticides. That’s why I consider myself lucky working with IBSAR. For me, IBSAR is not just a workplace. It is a lifestyle,” says Khaled. Monika Fabian: “This is Monika from IBSAR” – that’s how everybody at AUB knows her. Coming from Hungary with a horticultural engineer degree, she is married to a Lebanese and has a newborn son. When she came to Lebanon, she sought a place and an institution where she can work “in a green environment for a green environment”. She says: “As we all know, the best place for that here in Beirut is AUB. In 2006, I had the chance to work with IBSAR and to assist in teaching landscape students with Dr. Salma Talhouk, so what more can I wish for? I am just lucky to work here”. Josipa Sopf-Nuic: Josipa is a forestry engineer coming from Croatia. Upon graduation from the School of Forestry, University of Sarajevo BiH, she gained her forestry field work experience. Later on, she continued her research work at the Botanical Garden in Zagreb. Change in career path led Josipa to expand her experience in a variety of international humanitarian organizations and NGOs in different countries. Upon arrival to Lebanon, and learning about IBSAR’s mission to promote conservation and sustainable utilization of biodiversity, she decided to return to her original profession and joined IBSAR team to help in fulfilling their mission. In addition to extensive NGO experience, she brings research experience of mapping Croatian Vascular Flora, the project she worked on as Associate back in Croatia.
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Arbi Sarkissian: An IBSAR intern from the USA, Arbi is in charge of IBSAR outreach activities. With the help of IBSAR members and volunteers, he has been organizing events and activities made possible through donations collected for the “Seeds of Hope, Trees for Tomorrow” campaign. These activities are aimed at mobilizing students and community members to participate in the tree planting process while promoting awareness about biodiversity conservation through planting natives. He is currently coordinating workshops for ACS students and AUB volunteers who have shown interest in the tree planting campaign. The students who continue to show support will be invited to participate in a community-based tree planting event at the beginning of 2009. Samer Toutoungy: After completing his master’s studies in biotechnology in Greece, Samer found himself working with IBSAR, a “progressive and proactive team” that reflects a great deal of his future prospects. “The more I progress with IBSAR,” he says, “the more I find myself in harmony with the vision IBSAR sets for itself ”. This vision aims, through its actions, at re-instigating a constructive spirit in the community by reminding the individual of the active responsibility he holds towards his environment. Samer views himself as an individual whose passion is knowledge; who pursues science as a lifestyle and a perception to satisfy his inquisitive mind as well as a tool to serve social progress; and who “finds pleasure in searching to understand life’s complexities and even more pleasure afterwards in retracing his steps to perceive things in their holistic sense, appreciating how everything is connected in this beautiful and mysterious creation”. Ahmed Kardaly: A Lebanese University graduate with a Diploma in Biochemistry, Ahmed found himself involved with IBSAR’s mission for biodiversity conservation. This prompted him to begin volunteering in January 2008. He undertook many tasks in IBSAR, some related to research and others related to project follow-up with several Lebanese municipalities. His aim in joining IBSAR, he says, encompasses involving himself in biodiversity conservation activities, and “working harmoniously with people from Monika Fabian
various backgrounds and cultures”.
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Summer Internships
An intense learning experience at IBSAR A teacher at Algeria’s University of Béjaia and a PhD candidate preparing her doctorate on a medicinal plant called Clematis flammula, IBSAR summer intern Dina Kilani initially found out about IBSAR by coincidence, upon discussing her thesis with Right to left: Dr. Najat Saliba, Dina Kilani, and researchers at Dr. Saliba’s lab.
her sister, who works with IUCN. Directed by head of IBSAR Dr. Salma Talhouk to contact Dr. Najat
Saliba, a chemist and member of IBSAR, Kilani began training in Dr. Saliba’s lab for a one-month period last summer. Says Kilani: “Dr. Saliba and her team of young researchers made it easy for me to learn. Despite being overwhelmed by their own research, they were helpful and cooperative.” Though the results of Kilani’s work are not yet complete, the experience she gained is so intense that she hopes to return to finish what she started. She says: “It’s good to find out that in a country like Lebanon, struggling politically and economically, there are people like Dr. Saliba and Dr. Talhouk working to make a difference in the environment”.
Ibsar Latest
Dina Kilani
IBSAR’s new home IBSAR has moved, and our new office is in Faculty 1 W. It is nice, small, and as always, bubbling with activities and volunteers. We will be holding a proper open house event as soon as the weather permits. Our phone extension numbers are 4509 and 4505.
Send your news, articles, and editorial comments to ibsar@aub.edu.lb
Visit the IBSAR website at www.ibsar.org.
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