EDITORS COMMENT 5

during October 1995 provided an opportunity for many experts in

wildlife conservation to share their views about how we can work

together in conserving and developing our natural resources. The

meeting was a most stimulating event at which I was able to reflect

upon progress to date, and to consider how best to move forward.

In his key note address to the gathering, H.R.H. Prince Saud Al-Faisal

spoke of the need to “look regionally and act locally” if we are

to be successful in conserving wildlife. It was a point well made

since in the end the focus of regional conservation responsibility

does lie in the hands of national and local conservation authorities.

The regional approach demands close cooperation and it is our

bounden duty to work together in this field. Indeed, Islamic teaching

recognises the significance of natural ecosystems as an essential

and integral part of the world in which we live. It further stresses

the role of humankind as a custodian of nature. In my own address

to the Forum I examined these points in some detail and concluded

that the unified approach will serve us best, not only in the

political and developmental spheres, but also in the field of

conservation. By improving regional cooperation, I argued, the

local conservation organizations, and through them, conservation

in the region, could become self-reliant, efficient and more beneficial

natural history, from spiders to sharks, and from our smallest

mammals, the desert mice, to our largest, the whales that live

off our shores. It also brings good news on a number of important

fronts. We are delighted that the Arabian Leopard Trust has secured

both “Nimrod Felix” the beleaguered male whose plight we have

highlighted in previous issues of Arabian Wildlife magazine, and

a potential mate, a captive bred female leopard generously loaned

to the Trust from the breeding centre in Oman. It is also a matter

of great pride to my own organisation, the NCWCD that we are able

to report the first ever record of captive-reared houbara bustards

breeding in the wild. This work, coordinated by researchers at

the the National Wildlife Research Centre, is of tremendous significance

for the future of the houbara bustard in Arabia and it will greatly

joy at these events and will continue to do everything that you

in this issue of the magazine, and also those who have done so

in previous issues. By doing so, you are helping us to create

a truly international magazine that is reaching readers throughout

the world. I invite other companies to support our efforts by

advertising in future editions of Arabian Wildlife. Details of

how to do so are obtainable from the publisher, Planet Publishing