The UAE’s approach to the environment in the next century is outlined in the National Environment Strategy and workplan, recently publicised in the press. There are three consecutive stages, beginning with a National Environmental Agenda which aims to identify priority issues and evaluate the resources needed for specific projects. The next stage will be to establish a coherent strategy for sustainable environmental development. The final stage will be to establish a national workplan based on that strategy. Industry, the municipalities, oil, water, agriculture, health and education sectors are all involved and before the end of 1988 a comprehensive report will be issued on the first stage. This is another welcome sign that things are moving in the right direction and that everybody is waking up to the fact that the UAE is a small country in danger of being overwhelmed by development and industrialisation.

We in the ENHG feel we are ‘doing our bit’ to highlight environmental issues in the UAE, even though our main objective remains that of recording exactly what is here, whether on land, at sea or in the air. This issue of Tribulus continues a tradition of covering a variety of topics that we hope appeals to our readers. Butterflies have been touched on occasionally but here we begin with a checklist of the UAE’s Macroheterocera (macro-moths) by Albert Legrain and Edward Wiltshire. A second checklist follows, this time by Graham Giles, of the damselflies and dragonflies of the UAE. The plates are intended as a reference guide to enable (at last) more recording of this neglected group by ENHG members and others. Many people do not appreciate that dragonflies are not confined to oases. Many are migratory and turn up in numbers on offshore islands as well as on the mainland. Gary Feulner follows up with our first ever look at freshwater fish. Most of us have seen the tiny ‘minnows’ in wadi streams, but who has stopped for a moment to consider just what species they might be ?

Compared to the marine environment, the pools and streams of the mountains remain relatively underexplored. Uli Wernery and Maria Lipp report on a case of snakebite, something that may be in the back of the mind of anyone on a camping trip. How many of us know which snakes are poisonous and which are not ? Archaeology gets a look in with an article by Tony Harris, erstwhile Chairman of the ENHG, on a Late Stone Age site south of the Liwa. Tony’s interest in the history and prehistory of the UAE goes back a long way – in 1977 he wrote four articles for the Bulletin (the precursor of Tribulus) No.2. In July 1978 he gave us a history of the old main Abu Dhabi mosque and in March 1979 he spoke to the Group on the Liwa itself. It is not often that a person’s contributions to a magazine are nearly twenty years apart. This issue also includes notes on ostrich shells finds, new plant species and a new scorpion for the UAE – all in line with our recording philosophy. How many more species remain to be discovered ? There must be hundreds, probably many thousand. Tribulus 8.2 also brings with it an expanded news section and other improvements, but remember, your comments and suggestions are always welcomed. Last, but hardly least, Tribulus is now a refereed journal. Four referees have agreed to serve on a refereeing panel – to them all we are extremely grateful.

    • A.R. WESTERN