Municipal Recycling Facilities in Fujairah: I’d Like to See That!

Update
So far in the Fujairah: I’d Like to See That! series, I have suggested several things, not out of anger or frustration but to make a contribution to the dreaming process.

I have expressed dreams for the following:
* A Fujairah Facebook Network
* More trees
* More playgrounds and park benches (this dream has been partly fulfilled)
* Some Good Maps on Fujairah and how to get to the east coast
* At least one Fujairah Visitor Centre but ideally one at each gate to the city
* A growing photographic gallery of Fujairah’s landmarks
* Greater collaboration between Sharjah-East Coast & Fujairah especially in tourism
* More books published (Arabic and English) with a Fujairah flavor
* A growing range of good video clips and short films on Fujairah

Any Ideas?
I would love to hear and post the dreams that others have for this region so if you have an idea, let me know.

Recycling Facilities
It would be good for the residents and good for the environment if we had a Municipality sponsored Recycling Facility in Fujairah and along the east coast.

Mention was made recently in a Gulf News article of the lack of any state-owned recycling facility but it gave a good reason why this is urgently needed:

“According to an EAD report, waste production per person per year in the emirates average between 547kg and 766kg, making the UAE one of the highest waste producing countries in the world. Though the UAE was an environmentally conservative society, the current trend is the 'use and throw' culture of urban societies, mentioned the report.”

The recently convened meeting of UAE leaders from various sectors of the country were seeking to respond to the news that the UAE had the greatest ecological footprint in the world. One would think that recycling facilities would be an essential part of any plan to rectifying this reputation.

A further Gulf News report highlighted how students and educators are leading the way in the UAE and it focused on the recycling facilities at the HCT-Women’s College in Fujairah. A story was posted earlier in the year when this good initiative was launched and the College is continuing its commitment through a new mobile phone recycling program, linked with EnviroFone. There are understandable difficulties about public access to a College in order to deposit one’s bottles, cans and papers and only the ardent environmentalists will do this.

What is needed is government leadership and municipality sponsored recycling facilities with appropriate recycling bins to every residence with a pick up at the places where people currently dispose of their rubbish.

For Fujairah, having recently announced tourism goals and plans to showcase its beautiful landscape, one would think that recycling facilities would be at the top of the agenda.

The environmental challenge is one which requires cooperation at all levels for both the implementation of the services and the consistent education which cultivates wholesome green habits. It has been good to see educational institutions showing the way. It would also be heartening to see a bold commitment by federal and local governments. Furthermore imams need to be teaching the truths in the Koran and other religious leaders explaining the way that all the ancient scriptures view the environment as a gift and humans as caretakers.

Geoff Pound

Image: An example of colour-coded bins for recycling different waste products.

Fujairah: Dreams Do Come to Pass!

In one of the first in the series of postings, ‘Fujairah, I’d Like to See That’, I said that I would like to see some good park benches along the corniche, like they have in Kalba.

Just this week twenty new park benches were placed in the revamped playground area overlooking the Fujairah shoreline!

You may also have spotted the park bench in a recent (4 November 2007) blog posting of a couple from Dubai (that’s one of the visitors in the photo displayed).

The comments of these tourists include this one: “The Kalba Corniche was much more manicured [than the Fujairah corniche].” The same statements are made by Fujairah residents who wonder why less money is spent in their emirate on grass, trees, quality park furniture, playground equipment, fences and street lights.

Still, the dream of some park benches along the Fujairah corniche has been fulfilled.

Keep dreaming!

Geoff Pound

Image: New park bench with a Dubai tourist putting it to good use. These are two-seater benches—smaller than the Kalba variety.

Videos on Fujairah & the East Coast: I’d Like to See That!

After getting some feedback on the Halcrow videos of their UAE projects posted at the Fujairah in Focus site here and on the Experiencing the Emirates site here and here, I have been thinking it would be great to have an ever-growing site where videos showing events and good things to see in Fujairah and the UAE east coast can be easily found, downloaded and viewed.

Associated with this idea is the dream that a wide range of good video clips would be developed showcasing the delights of Fujairah—its fishing, bull butting, water sports, environmental spots, archaeological sights etc. Perhaps this might be one of the goals of the media centre in the forthcoming Creativity City in Fujairah.

Here are a few videos with a Fujairah and East Coast flavour.
Apart from the first one, most of the others have been taken by amateurs on their Camcorders. Hopefully their viewing will encourage others to take more quality footage of specific places and happenings.

Fujairah Tourism Video on YouTube
Fujairah Beach-Faseel (not the best quality)
Road Trip to Fujairah
Dubai (Mall of the Emirates) plus road trip to Fujairah
Kalba Road and the Gillay Tunnel
Kids Fishing in Boat of Fujairah
Children Playing on Fujairah beach
Fujairah International Marine Club
Diving in Fujairah Waters

If you know of any other video clips you would be happy to add to this list please send me the link.

Geoff Pound

Kalba Road and Gillay Tunnel on Video

Halcrow, according to its blurb, is responsible for “planning, design and management services for infrastructure development worldwide.”

Halcrow builds airports, marinas, roads, bridges and tunnels.

The Halcrow site contains some interesting short videos of some of its projects around the world. There are several with a UAE focus.


One of the routes for leaving Fujairah for Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Hatta etc., is the new Kalba Road which goes through the Gillay tunnel (thanks to Halcrow).

Check out the video the highlights the Kalba road and the Gillay tunnel at this link:

Halcrow Tunnels

Image: On the Kalba Road.

Books on Fujairah

Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai recently (October 28, 2007) shared more than a dozen plans which are part of the $10 billion education initiative to revamp the education process in the Arab world.

In this speech he challenged Arab publishers and translators to publish 1,000 new books every year. Addressing publishers at one of the sessions, he said they would get "full support and attention" of the foundation.
"Are you ready to translate and publish a thousand books a year? Then buckle up, and let's go," Shaikh Mohammad said. "We are ready for the challenge."

I am not sure where the well-rounded figure of 1,000 books a year comes from but this annual target must have warmed the hearts of Arab writers and translators.

I wonder how many of these books might come from the emirate of Fujairah?

I don’t know how many books exist in Arabic that have a Fujairah focus but Amazon.com, with a search for Fujairah, gives an idea of what books exist in English and other languages.

At the time of searching 269 listings showed up, although a closer look reveals only 20 books or digital downloads (do these count in the Sheikh’s reckoning?) on subjects such as gas market trends, oil trading, petrochemicals, archaeology, bunkering, refineries, oil terminals, desalination shrimp farming and only one book which is an overview viz. Fujairah: An Arabian Jewel.

The rest of the search results are interesting one line references to Fujairah in travel books and volumes on piracy, cruise shipping, radio stations etc.

So there’s plenty of scope for writers to ‘buckle up’ and write good quality books that might be translated into Arabic, thus fulfilling the Sheikh’s literary dream.

Geoff Pound

Image: Fujairah: An Arabian Jewel by Peter Hellyer.

Birds of Fujairah and the UAE East Coast

A review of the recently republished book, A Photographic Guide to Birds of the Middle East, has been posted on the site, Reviewing Books and Movies.

An article on ‘Birds in the UAE’ has also been put on the site, Experiencing the Emirates.

The book, Birds of the Middle East, recognizes the crucial importance of Fujairah and the east coast as possessing major sites for watching the rich and varied bird population in this region.

The main bird watching areas in any country will include coastal wetlands, freshwater wetlands, deserts, woodlands, mountains, agricultural areas, towns and cities and the seashore. Fujairah possesses many of these different areas and often in close proximity to one another. This gives a clue into why some have called Fujairah the ‘bird watching capital of the UAE’.

Birds of the Middle East gives prominence to the areas of Khor Kalba (just south of Fujairah and near the Omani border), the Masafi Wadi, the Fujairah National Dairy Farm (Dibba), the Fujairah Corniche (especially near the Gurfa Breakwater on the boundary of Fujairah and Kalba, Sharjah) and many mountain spots.

As I have encouraged in the posting on ‘Birds in the UAE’, check out the web site Birding the United Arab Emirates, look at the wonderful photos and the ‘This Month So Far’ with the list of birds sighted in Fujairah’s popular bird watching areas.

Geoff Pound

Image: The Indian Roller bird is regularly seen around Fujairah. Last month a group of Bird Watchers to the Fujairah National Dairy Farm in Dibba spotted 15 Indian Rollers in one outing.

Fujairah Weather

Fujairah Weather Overview
Many of the tourist blurbs play down the high summer temperatures and summarize Fujairah weather in this way:

“Fujairah has the most pleasant weather lasting 6 months between October and March. The weather is almost always sunny and sometimes cloudy with temperature not exceeding 25 degrees Celsius and rain is expected from time to time.”

In the summer, temperatures get into the mid to late 40’s. From October to March the temperatures are generally very pleasant.

While the average rainfall in the UAE is 4 inches a year Fujairah receives a higher than average yearly rainfall (usually in the winter months) which makes the emirate good for crop production.

Fujairah can be very humid and unpleasant during the summer, although September is generally regarded as the most humid month of the year.

There are occasional sand storms during the winter.

Fujairah Weather Forecasts
There are a range of online weather information sources and sites which give a three to five day forecast. Unfortunately, if you check out the weather for Fujairah for any day you will probably find several discrepancies regarding temperatures and wind directions!

Here are some of the online weather information sites for Fujairah.

AME Info Temp, Pressure, Humidity, Visibility, wind etc.
BBC 5 Day Forecast plus info on sun, temps, wind, visibility, humidity, bar. pressure (these can be sent to you by RSS feed )
UAE Ministry of Commun. & Met Dept Basic info plus marine, tides, satellite imagery, cloud forecast
Weather Forecast plus temperatures, moon, barometer, humidity
Weather Stations Google Map & Temps
Weather Underground 5 day forecast, humidity, wind, moon

Geoff Pound

Image: Cloud Forecast map from the Met Office.

Stingray Threat in Fujairah Waters

An article recently in the Gulf News was warning swimmers of the current stingray threat in the waters of the Arabian Gulf, off Dubai. It suggested the longing for warmth was bringing the rays in close.

The threat may also relate to the waters of the eastern coastline. Spotting this article reminded me of a visit along the Kalba beach last week. We saw a huge number of stingrays that had been netted by fishermen and left unwanted on the beach, along with some porcupine fish.

I took some pictures (below) of the stingrays. They are white underneath and brown on top which serves as a camouflage against the sandy bottom. These rays were all small, about the size of a breakfast plate.

Helpful advice about avoiding stingrays is in the Gulf News article:

Emmanuelle Landais, ‘Swimmers Warned of Stingray Threat’, Gulf News, 31 October 2007.

Image: Stingrays on Kalba beach last week.

No Significant Signs of Cyclone ‘05a’ Approaching Fujairah

In the twilight this morning, looking down toward Oman, the sky looked dark and angry.

No real wind to speak of but as the sun rose its rays lit up the dark clouds in a fiery blaze.

The word is that the cyclone has been weakening over the south of Oman, has been downgraded to a tropical depression and is not likely to be a potent force like its predecessor, Cyclone Gonu that arrived in June 2007.

The name of this cyclone was ‘05a’. How uncreative can you get! The list of names like Gonu, Helen, Chapala etc has been worked out until 2009 so how did ‘05a’ receive a name that was so unimaginative?

Geoff Pound

Images: The Kalba sky this morning, looking south to Oman.

Greater Sharjah and Fujairah Tourism Cooperation: I’d Like to See That!

Fujairah is situated only a few kilometers north of Sharjah’s town of Kalba and the uninitiated probably don’t notice when they drive across the border from one emirate to the other or when the Fujairah beach becomes part of the Sharjah coastline.

While most of Sharjah revolves around the city of Sharjah, near Dubai, there are odd areas of the Sharjah emirate within the emirate of Fujairah. These include the enclaves of Dibba al Hisn (Dibba is divided between Sharjah, Fujairah and Oman) and Kalba, both of which have been traditional ports, giving Sharjah strategic land and water access to both the Arabian Gulf (west) and the Gulf of Oman (east).

The emirates of Fujairah and Sharjah have their own government and municipality and the laws are slightly different. For example, in Sharjah there is a ban on the sale, possession and consumption of alcohol and there is a stricter enforcement of the UAE decency laws introduced in 2001 regarding a conservative dress code for men and women and the prohibition on ‘unmarried men and women being alone in public places, or in suspicious times or circumstances’ (‘No Exceptions in Sharjah’s Decency Laws’, Gulf News, 29 September 2001). These differences are part of the rich history and tradition of the two emirates and must be respected.

For the sake of the tourists to the eastern coast, it would be good to see a closer cooperation between Sharjah and Fujairah, especially regarding the marketing of all that the two states have to offer.

It would be pleasing to see this growing link between the two emirates being referred to in future announcements of Fujairah’s Tourism Goals. The Sharjah-East Coast and Fujairah travel pages at present display little connection to each other and one might conclude that these two states are totally different countries.

One practical place to pursue such collaboration is with the production of some tourist brochures and tourist web pages that incorporate the best things to see on the east coast, whether they be in Fujairah or Sharjah. This could involve creating some half day, whole day and weekend tour suggestions that people can use as a template to plot their own travel. It seems unthinkable to entice people to see the delights of Fujairah (the fort, the museum, the bull butting, the beaches etc.) without also encouraging them to walk the glorious beaches of Kalba, to explore the Kalba fort or to see the mangrove forest and wetlands of Khor Kalba, which are among the most important ecological areas on the Arabian Peninsula. Any move to establishing some Visitor Centres, which would distribute travel brochures, should ideally be made together.

To forge such cooperation in tourism is not only in the interests of tourists and residents but it would continue the spirit of Sheikh Zayed, who embodied the values of consultation and consensus, who surrendered the rights of the individual and the state in order to benefit all, and who encouraged his people to do everything humanly possible to work together for common goals. (See ‘Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan: A Special Tribute’, UAE Interact, 2005)

Geoff Pound

Image: The rare white-collared kingfisher in the mangrove forest and wetlands of Khor Kalba. Picture courtesy of this site.

New but Weakened Cyclone to Hit Fujairah

The Khaleej Times reported:

“The tropical cyclone formed in the Arabian Sea, named 05a, has weakened and will not affect the UAE, Met officials said yesterday.”

“According to the Meteorological Department in Abu Dhabi, the cyclone is currently moving towards Yemen and [the] African region and will not have any impact on the UAE.”

“However, the officials said, the cyclone is likely to bring rain and thunder showers tomorrow in some parts of Fujairah and Oman, while clouds are forecast in Northern region of the UAE and rains in eastern region of the country the same day.”

For more detail on the cyclone and how Cyclone Gonu has shaped people’s minds:

Staff Reporters, ‘Cyclone Won’t Affect UAE’, Khaleej Times, 1 November 2007.

Image: Gonu back in June 2007.

Fujairah Pictures and Photos

You’d like to see a little of Fujairah before you visit?

There are lots of photos on the Internet if you search for them.

There are also several albums on the sites belonging to professional photographers who sell their shots and amateurs who maintain a copyright on their images, meaning that you can’t swipe them without permission.

Here are links to some Fujairah photographs I have spotted online. Many of them are repeats but you get a good idea of what has caught the eye of people who have visited or those who live in Fujairah.

If you know of other good links (especially if they are photos you have taken), drop me a line and the link address as I would love to add it to this list:

Aidan O’Rourke Gallery
David Henderson Gallery (mixed in with many UAE pictures)
East Coast, UAE Photo Gallery Brian McMorrow
East Coast Photo Gallery Philipp Holzmann
Fujairah: Great City in the Making
Fujairah Tourism Bureau Image Gallery (Check attractions and image gallery)
Fujairah Travel Pictures

Geoff Pound

Image: Fish Market

A Fujairah Visitor Centre: I’d Like to See That!

Following my posting on the tourists and residents who get lost on Fujairah streets and the need for some detailed maps, it would be good to have a Fujairah Visitor Centre, where travelers can stop and get all the information they need for their visit.

Perhaps a few Visitor Centres might be the ideal, realizing the different approaches to the emirate but starting off with one that is suitably located for the many visitors who from the existing Dubai road and the soon to be completed highway.

The purposes are many—to provide information and maps, through brochures and personal advice and to offer public restrooms where travelers might be relieved and refreshed.

Perhaps architecturally, it could be styled with the lines of a Bedouin tent, with the interior including a majlis (مجلس) or Arabic sitting room, where Emiratis might welcome guests to the exciting emirate of Fujairah.

As new international visitors to the Auckland airport in New Zealand are surprised to be given a free cup of tea or coffee by a team of volunteers, it would express traditional Arab hospitality for visitors to Fujairah to be greeted with some locally grown dates and Arabic coffee.

For the many Emiratis learning English at nearby Colleges, doing time in the Visitor Centre would be a wonderful way to get conversation practice as well as meeting people of other cultures and languages.

Geoff Pound

Image: Contemporary majlis.

Fujairah, I’d Like to See That: Good Maps

A blog article appeared recently in which a car load of people from Dubai set out to enjoy their Eid holiday in Fujairah. They had not been to Fujairah before, they kept on getting lost and they called into more than 20 gas stations to ask for directions. When they arrived in Fujairah their problem only intensified. How do you find your way to the various tourist hot spots?

Finding your way to and around Fujairah is a problem for newcomers to the eastern state. It can also be an everyday challenge for those who have been living in Fujairah for months. People don’t seem to locate their houses according to street names and postcodes are not in existence yet.

Depending on taxis is not the final solution as many times I have asked taxi drivers to take me here and there and they have shaken their heads as if to say, “Yes, I know the way.” But, before long it becomes apparent that they have not done Fujairah’s equivalent to the London cab driver’s ‘Knowledge Test’ that takes around three years of hard training to learn all the streets in the six-mile radius of Charing Cross.

Until a Global Positioning Service for Fujairah is available, we are going to need a decent map. There are some available in shops but these so quickly go out of date with the burgeoning of Fujairah.

If you have one that is comprehensive, I’d like to see it and promote it on this site for the many who go astray on Fujairah roads and streets.

Here are some online maps that I have collected, some of which I consult before setting out on a journey:

Fujairah Colleges Map PDF
The Higher Colleges of Technology (HCT) have on their web site this PDF, which not only helps you to find the Women’s College and the Men’s College in Fujairah but it lists some other important landmarks:

Fujairah Emirate and City MapQuest
Map Quest provides a map that is zoomable, from the country to the region, the city and the street. This is good to get an overview of the emirate of Fujairah and the small towns. Working this site is a bit cumbersome but it does give the major highway numbers and main street names for the city.

Fujairah City Map –Municipality
The local municipality puts out this one that has an index of major places.

Fujairah City -UAE Interact
The UAE News and Information shows this map—no road names and some landmarks.

Fujairah Tourism Bureau Maps
Three basic maps that can be clicked on for enlargement are provided by the local bureau.

Road Map especially to port
Basic map with Fujairah suburbs, prepared to help people find the Fujairah Port.

Google Earth
Google Earth Site
This can be downloaded free of charge. See Fujairah from on high and zoom in. Users have been putting information notes in these maps (English and Arabic) to pinpoint landmarks and houses (see below in Wiki Maps).

World 66 Google Earth of UAE
World 66 Google Earth of Fujairah
These two Google Earth maps are hosted by World 66 travel sites, in case you do not wish to download Google Earth on your computer.

WikiMaps
Wikimapia is an online map and satellite imagery resource that combines Google Maps with a Wiki system allowing users to add information such as the name of a building or the location of their villa. See if you can find your home and put your name on your house. Most of the locations on the Fujairah map are in Arabic.

Wikimapia starting point
Wikimap This has been filed on the Internet to help people find the Fujairah Indian Social Club and has notes of places in Arabic and English
Wikimap This has been filed on the Internet to help people find the Fujairah Port with notes on surrounding buildings.
Wikimap Road to and Including Fujairah This has been filed on the Internet to help people find their way to Fujairah (Arabic mainly)

Directions for Dubai to Fujairah-NEW!

The above provides a range of maps. None of them are completely satisfactory. Hopefully someone will produce a Fujairah street map that is comprehensive. If you have got better ones I can list them (and their whereabouts) to this posting.

Geoff Pound

Image: Fujairah Map with directions to the port.

This posting is near the beginning of a series of some occasional articles entitled, Fujairah: I’d Like to See That! If there is something you’d like to see in Fujairah, please add a comment below or send me a paragraph or two for posting.

Fujairah Cultural Festival to be Televised

Gulf News reports that the third Fujairah International Monodrama Festival in two months will be filmed in Dibba Al Fujairah, thus drawing international attention to this cultural event.

The link for more on this event and announcement:
Fuad Ali, ‘Fujairah Monodrama Festival to be Televised’, Gulf News, 28 October 2007.

A Day in the Life of a Fujairah Fisherman

There is an interesting article on the life and times of a Fujairah fisherman in today’s Khaleej Times.

Link:
Salah Al Deberky, ‘Constant struggle to fish out daily worries’, Khaleej Times, 27 October 2007.

Image: Hammour, one of the most popular fish in the UAE. Stocks are declining thus making a Fujairah fisherman’s job even harder.

Fujairah: I’d Like to See That! Playgrounds and Park Benches

Following the launch of the Fujairah Tourism Goals, I am going to write the occasional posting entitled, Fujairah, I’d Like to See That!

If you’d like to join in and submit a wish (it can be posted on this site with your name or anonymously) do email this to me. Alternatively, you can put your idea in a comment at the bottom of this posting or the latest in the series.

Whether you are a longtime resident or a relative newcomer, what would you like to see changed or different in Fujairah (the emirate as well as the city)? Don’t be put off if you’ve recently arrived in Fujairah. They say that the first 30 minutes in any country or city are the most important, as that is when things stick out like organ stops. After that, things become familiar.

To kick it off, I want to make the plea that many visitors to Fujairah over the recent Eid holiday made, as reported in the Gulf News. I wrote of this on the Experiencing the Emirates site at the time but let me say it again here:

A Gulf News article reports on the huge numbers of UAE tourists who are choosing to enjoy the Eid holiday on the country’s east coast. Among the attractive features mentioned about the east coast cities and towns include:

* Natural and rugged beauty of the mountains

* Wonderful picnic spots


* Clean beaches (?)


* Cooler weather than in Abu Dhabi and Dubai


* Safe family destination


* Ample places for camping overnight


* Opportunities to light a camp fire


* Historic places to visit like the Al Bidya mosque

The writer picks up on the disappointment expressed by many Eid holidaymakers over the lack of basic amenities at some of the popular east coast beaches in the UAE. These deficiencies are not itemized but they might include the following:

* More seats and park benches


* Better signage


* Bigger and more rubbish bins


* The need for a better campaign to get people to pick up their rubbish—the almost universal UAE practice of employing maids and cleaners in their homes leads to the widespread habit of leaving trash on the corniche and the beaches for others to pick up


* More public toilets


* More gas-fired BBQs


* More well-equipped children’s playgrounds


* More trees and shade


* Repairing holes and uneven brickwork on paths to eliminate accidents.



It would be good to survey people (locals and tourists) to find out exactly what they would like to see to enhance their beach experiences and visits to the UAE’s eastern cities.



To read this timely article in full, check this link:Fuad Ali, ‘Heading East to Celebrate Eid’, Gulf News, 13 October 2007.

That kicks off the Fujairah: I’d Like to See That! Series.

What would you like to see?

Geoff Pound

Image: Park bench. There are benches like this every 30 metres along the Sharjah walkway overlooking Khor Kalba and the inlet. I’d like to see more of these along the Fujairah corniche.

Fujairah Tourism Targets: 100% Natural

Dubai has been a top international tourist magnet for several years.

Abu Dhabi, not to be outdone, has recently been making strong advances in tourism and is being hailed as ‘The Richest City in the World’ and ‘The Cultural Capital of the Middle East and the Arab World’.

This week Fujairah announced its new tourist goals.

Mohammed Bin Majed Al Aleeli, Director General of the Department of Industry and Economy in Fujairah was swift to say that this smaller but burgeoning eastern city and emirate will not try to outdo or replicate Dubai or Abu Dhabi.

Here is a summary of what Fujairah tourism is aiming at:

* Maximizing its beaches and mountains and the proximity of the two
* Highlighting natural beauty
* Showcasing its historical sites
* Adding hotel beds to cope with tourist numbers
* Being a stop over for ocean liners
* Building malls and entertainment facilities
* Finishing the new Dubai to Fujairah highway
* Enhancing Fujairah airport facilities
* Establishing the new Creativity City

A full report on this week’s announcement can be found at this link”
‘Fujairah Targets Tourism for Growth’, UAE Focus, AME Info, 26 October 2007.

Image: Maximizing its beaches

Call to Plant More Trees…in Fujairah

Dr Wangari Maathai, winner of Nobel Peace Prize in 2004, yesterday said she was impressed by the number of trees and greenery in the UAE and called upon people, especially students, to plant saplings to fight pollution and climate change.

She said: “When I arrived in Abu Dhabi I expected to see just the desert, but I was very surprised and impressed to find so many trees and greenery.”

“It takes 10 trees to absorb the toxins produced by one person’s expiration, so preserving forests and planting saplings are key factors in combating pollution and, ultimately, climate change,” she continued.

Dr Maathai has been involved in helping the environment by planting saplings, as well as assisting women in improving their way of life.

I wonder how the number of trees in Fujairah compares with Abu Dhabi and whether the Nobel Prize Winner would be just as surprised if she visited out east.

What is the tree planting strategy in Fujairah and what are the goals?

To read more of Dr Maathai’s speech, go to this link:

Silvia Radan, ‘Call to Plant More Trees to Fight Pollution,’ Khaleej Times Online, 24 October 2007.

Fujairah: Hoping to Strike the Good Oil

On 1 October, it was reported by Shaikh Hamad Bin Mohammad Al Sharqi, that a Ukrainian company has recently discovered oil in Fujairah but the Ruler of Fujairah was quick to say that it was too early to know whether the reserves are economically viable.

The Gulf News report also mentioned:
“Fujairah has very small crude oil production compared with Abu Dhabi and Dubai and such a discovery - if it proves viable - would provide a welcome boost to the emirate's economy.”

This week (23 October) SulphCo announced that testing will resume this week in Fujairah, United Arab Emirates on a variety of crude feedstocks.

Dr. Larry Ryan, CEO of SulphCo, provided an update of events since the September 6th investor conference call. "Our last round of testing in Fujairah had to be curtailed due to transportation issues unrelated to our process equipment, but we were nonetheless able to conduct limited test runs on a medium crude (32.9 API, 1.6% sulphur by content) employing our latest probe design. The results were significant; up to a 47% reduction in sulphur by content on successive test runs, as compared to 17% under the same test conditions utilizing the earlier Series II probe design."

"In the days ahead, we look forward to the resumption of testing, both in Fujairah and Europe," said Dr. Ryan.

Image: Sonocracking™ equipment assembly at Neue Technologien GmbH (NTG) in Gelnhausen, Germany for Fujairah Oil Technology, LLC.