Six projects in environmental awareness and conservation, cultural heritage and science from the Middle East and North Africa have been shortlisted for the 2008 Rolex Awards for Enterprise, the Rolex Awards Secretariat announced in Egypt recently. The renowned philanthropic program, which is to be held in the Middle East for the first time this year, rewards individuals around the world working to advance human knowledge and well-being. The regional shortlist, which includes one project each from Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and the United Arab Emirates and two from Turkey, accounts for more than 10 per cent of the international shortlist of 44. The Rolex Awards Secretariat received a record 138 applications from the region for this 13th series, the highest in the program's 32-year history. The shortlisted candidates include: 1. Prof. Talal Akasheh, a chemistry professor at the Hashemite University in Jordan, who is working to conserve the ancient city of Petra via a Geoarchaeological Information System; 2. Habiba Al-Marashi, an Emirati national and head of the UAE's Emirates Environmental Group, working to educate and mobilise youth to protect the environment in one of the fastest-developing nations in the Gulf; 3. Franziska Arici, a German agricultural engineer and resident of Turkey, who has been successful in helping humans and white storks coexist in the Lake Uluabat area of northwestern Turkey. 4. Najib Saab, editor-in-chief of the Lebanon-based Al-Bia Wal-Tanmia (Environment and Development) magazine, who seeks to promote environmental awareness in the MENA region via a free online archival database of information; 5. Prof. Mustafa Sari, a fisheries management expert working to save the pearl mullet fish species in eastern Turkey's Lake Van; 6. Gianluca Serra, an Italian conservationist based in Syria, who is working to preserve the world's last population of wild migratory bald ibis. “We at the Rolex Awards for Enterprise are very pleased to draw attention to these six unique projects,” Rebecca Irvin, head of the Rolex Awards Secretariat in Geneva, said at a Cairo media briefing. “The quality and diversity of these dedicated individuals and their projects are a testament to the enterprising work being done every day in the MENA region, work that very often goes unnoticed by the rest of the world.” Irvin, who announced the shortlist alongside Egyptian geologist prof. Farkhonda Hassan and heart surgeon Prof. Sir Magdi Yacoub, said the Laureates and Associate Laureates of the 13th Rolex Awards series will be revealed at the international prize-giving ceremony on Nov. 18 at the Madinat Jumeirah resort in Dubai.
