26
EDUCATION
OMAN DAILY Observer
WEDNESDAY, September 16, 2009
CESAR organises and co-ordinates
environmental studies and research
C
entRE for Environmental Studies and
Research (CESAR)
is one of the most important
centres at SQU because of
its significant services to the
community in organising and
co-ordinating environmental
studies and research in the Sultanate. CESAR aims to raise
awareness of environmental
issues among individuals, cooperates with various governmental authorities to protect
and conserve natural resources, plans for environmental
initiatives and research, and
on top of all these activities,
strives to achieve regional
and international recognition
for excellence in environmental studies and research.
Besides SQU, environmental
studies and research are carried out by five governmental
ministries as well as private
sector institutions, especially
those companies whose activities have a vast potential for
environmental impact. Consequently, there was a need
to establish a centre which
will organise and co-ordinate
environmental studies and
research throughout the country. In June 1999 a proposal
to this effect was submitted to
the parties concerned at SQU.
Upon the recommendation of
the Academic Council and
the approval of the University
Council, the President of SQU
ordered the establishment of
SQU Centre for Environmental Studies and Research, and
its first director was appointed
on October 16, 2000.
Al Jabal al Akhdar Initiative — Conservation and sustainable development in a fragile
mountain ecosystem in northern Oman addresses an important issue to the Sultanate
cies, as well as the private sector to collate and disseminate
information on environmental
research relating to Oman and
the region. Moreover, it liaisons in promoting research
collaboration and interaction
between SQU, government,
international agencies and the
private sector. Furthermore,
it contributes to the evaluation of environmental policies and assists government
agencies upon request. It also
raises awareness of major environmental issues among the
Tasks
public and contributes to the
The centre performs many sustained development of the
functions, the most important country.
of which are the encouragement, organisation, and co- Objectives
ordination of environmental
To perform its tasks in the
studies and research at SQU. best manner and to achieve
It co-ordinates with govern- its targets, the centre gathers
mental and international agen- data on all environmental re-
search/projects conducted at
SQU or by outside agencies in
the Sultanate. It sets up a database that will receive input
and share information among
all sectors involved in environmental research. It also
promotes interdisciplinary environmental research at SQU
using available expertise and
other resources. Moreover, it
facilitates interaction among
government ministries, international agencies and the
private sector to carry out
environmental research in the
Sultanate. It seeks internal
funding from SQU for environmental research by evaluating and supporting internal,
interdisciplinary
research
proposals. Furthermore, it
seeks and administers outside
funding for environmental
research and programmes
organised by/at SQU, and organises seminars, symposia,
workshops and conferences on
environmental issues with the
assistance of local, regional,
and international sponsors. In
addition, it publishes digests,
directories, conference proceedings and special issues of
existing University journals to
disseminate research results.
Last but not least, it helps to
create awareness of environmental issues among school
and University students, and
the public at large, through
mass media and special activities.
Achievements
The centre has made a
number of achievements
which have enhanced its pioneering position in improving
and modernising mechanisms
of community interactions
with the environment, and
finding the best practices to
achieve this goal.
Thus, during the first year
after its inauguration, it organised a joint workshop on
African regions, Southern
desert, north Africa, and the
Middle East sponsored by
GEF,UNEP, and TWNSO. It
also hosted a number of environment specialists through
the Fulbright programme and
established research collaboration with the University of
Port Elizabeth in the Republic
of South Africa on coastal environmental research.
The centre carried out an
interdisciplinary research on
the protection of biodiversity and sustainable development in Al Jabal Al Akhdar.
It participated in the Unesco
experts meeting to discuss
the establishment of human
and vital atmospheric preservation in the Sultanate. It
published the sixth volume
of the list of birds of Oman,
and executed the Jabal Al
Akhdar initiative, a strategic
research project financed by
His Majesty’s Royal grant allocated for scientific research
at SQU. Moreover, the centre prepared and published
a guide for environmental
research and studies at SQU,
and established the Marine
Sciences Forum in the College of Agriculture. In addition to all these achievements,
the centre represented SQU
in national, regional, and international meetings and in
a number of governmental
committees. It also reviewed
consultants’ reports and policy statements, and has given
aid and assistance to several
researchers at SQU.
Publications
The centre has issued a
number of publications including: Conserving Biodiversity in Arid Areas. The
Official List of Birds of Oman
(sixth volume). The Birds of
Jabal Al Akhdar, Sultanate of
Oman, Eriksen J and CESAR.
In addition, the centre has upgraded the guide for environmental studies and research at
SQU published in 2003 to include the centre’s sponsored
research, the proceedings of
conferences, abstracts, documents and popular articles.
Foresight studies:
future engineering
By Prof Mohammed Najeeb al Sarairah
A
number of planners and
researchers believe that
foresight studies represent
an important foundation for future
planning which aims to crystallise
plans and strategies, based on a vision which anticipates changes and
their alternatives, for a future which,
though it has not yet materialised, is
in the making.
One of the most significant
challenges which faces developing countries is their lack of proper
attention to foresight studies and their failure to establish
guidelines for them. These countries will be unable to face the
future confidently since this requires a strong framework of
knowledge that enables them to anticipate events before they
occur, ie equipping them to discover the future’s secrets and
anticipate changing events. With these studies, the future’s
mystery is dispelled, its aspects clarified and, in most cases,
its shock and surprise minimised since all these are no longer
unexpected.
Another advantage of foresight studies is that they represent a main source for producing plans and systems benefiting
from several scenarios and devised in the light of specific hypotheses. In this way the multi-directional present is seriously
considered, so too the influence of expected and alternating
changes, their intensity, effectiveness, and level of necessary
response.
Historically speaking, many sciences, including the human
and social sciences, have borrowed the concept of strategy
from military sciences known for their discipline, accuracy,
and dependence on forward planning based on close readings
of the present and penetrating views of the future. When preparing for any strategy, a number of questions must be asked:
the most significant of them concern knowledge of conflict
or challenge, obstacles and problems, steps to be taken and
expected time frames.
To answer these questions, we urgently need foresight studies which provide future knowledge and support planning, in
other words ‘future engineering’, and which, at the same time,
allow plans to be devised which challenge the mystery of the
future with studied and penetrating vision.
This emphasises the strong link between future planning
processes and foresight studies which continuously predict
and anticipate ever-changing events and thus alleviate shock
and dispel mystery. Experience has shown the vital role foresight studies, based on clear vision and firm foundations, in
leading and reshaping the present to serve human prosperity
and advancement.
Here at SQU, interest in foresight studies has been enhanced by His Majesty Sultan Qaboos’s Royal grant in support of this kind of research. The College of Arts and Social
Sciences, represented by the Departments of History and
Geography, has received funds to finance a number of such
studies which will serve the Omani community. Yet the development of this new discipline requires more efforts by Arab
scholars to improve current skills and conditions .
* Professor Mohammed Najeeb al Sarairah is the Dean of the
College of Arts and Social Sciences
Camel meat: food and medicine
l Known for its low fat and high moisture content
l Reduces risk of cardiovascular diseases and Atherosclerosis
Qualities and
characteristics
By Dr Isam T Kadim,
College of Agricultural and
Marine Sciences
A
rabian deserts are known
for their large number of
camels which can be used
as a source of high value food for
human consumption. According to
the United Nations Organization for
Food and Agriculture, the number
of camels in the world is 22 million.
Twenty million of them are single–
humped and 12.4 million of this
kind are found in the Arab world.
The Sultanate of Oman possesses
117,000 camels, which can be considered as an important source of
national and cultural wealth. Camels are famous for their ability to
tolerate thirst for long periods (1020 days), and for being able to lose
40 per cent of their body weight
without becoming dehydrated. This
is due to their physiological composition and their ability to live and
thrive in adverse climatic conditions. Scientists have studied camel
anatomy and physiology, but few
have paid serious attention to their
productive qualities. SQU, therefore, has conducted a number of scientific studies on the dietary characteristics of camel meat, which have
proved that camels can be considered as an important source of food
especially in arid areas which have
poor vegetation. This is because
camels have the ability to transform
low quality plants, with minimal
nutritive elements, into high quality
food products.
Camels need to graze for 6-8
hours daily and to ruminate for 6
hours. They take small bites from
a given plant and do not restrict
their grazing to one specific area.
This style of feeding is important
because it protects pastures from
deterioration as a result of excessive grazing. Also experiments have
proved that camels can adjust and
thrive within foreshortened breeding systems, since they can live in
adverse climates and on different
kinds of food, which makes their
breeding economically viable.
Male camels are slaughtered
when they are 1-3 or even 4-5 years
old, which is considered their best
age for meat production. As they
grow older, their meat becomes
tougher and lose quality because of
old fibres and muscles.
Camel meat is known for its large
muscular fibres and high percentage
of water. It has a sweet taste because
of the presence of glycogen, and its
colour is red or dark brown.
In its general composition, camel meat is similar to beef and when
the animal is 2 years old, its meat is
similar to beef. Young camel meat
in particular is delicious and rich in
nutritive elements which makes it
as good as mutton. It also contains a
high percentage of water compared
to the meat of older camels. There
has been a lack of research on camel meat. But recent developments
make it imperative to conduct serious research on this meat because
of its health and economic benefits.
Our libraries are still poor in studies
which should support the production and marketing of this meat. It is
time to persuade the public to consume it because of its rich protein
content and high nutritive quality;
because as published statistics indicate, such consumption is still low
in general.
Studies
A number of studies conducted
at SQU on the chemical composition and food value of camel meat
have shown that it has two qualities which distinguish it from beef
and mutton: its low fat and high
moisture content. Fat in camel meat
amounts to 1.2 per cent-1.8 per cent
and in beef 4 per cent-8 per cent.
The figure for water is 20 per cent.
These percentages mean that camel
meat is richer than beef in protein
and minerals. All these facts prove
that not only the consumption of
camel meat will lower the percentage of fat in the body, but it will
lessen the intake of saturated fats
connected with cardiovascular disease. Camels are better qualified
than other animals to be a good
source of meat especially in arid areas but also in other areas as well.
Therefore we must devise methods
to protect these animals and improve
their production and their breeding
since what genetic engineering has
achieved in other animals can also
be achieved in camels, especially as
there are no technical obstacles to
developing special breeds for meat
production. People responsible
for supervising and planning programmes to develop animal wealth
in the Arab world should pay more
attention to this neglected source of
exploitable wealth.
Medical value
reduces the risk of cardiovascular
disease and atherosclerosis since it
lowers the percentage of cholesterol
in the blood.
Camel meat has other medical
qualities, too, like protecting against
cancerous tumours, as claimed by
some researchers, because it contains unsaturated fatty acids like
linoleic acid which interact with
other unsaturated fatty acids taken from vegetable oils to protect
against cancer. Camel meat can also
be used as a cure for exhaustion and
fatigue because it contains energy
needed by body cells. Such energy
comprises sugar not fat, since, a
camel’s fat is concentrated in its
hump whereas other animals store it
in their muscles. In addition, camel
meat contains glycogen, a carbohydrate which is easily absorbed and
metabolised in the body, and is converted to glucose which activates
nerve as well as other cells.
Studies and medical research
have proved that camel meat is superior to other kinds of meat. The
camel is distinguished from other
animals by the fact that the percentage of its intramuscular fat declines
as the animal gets older. This quality, only found in camels, makes Remedy for cold, infections
their meat less fatty, so its consumpStudies have shown that camel
tion is healthy and recommended for meat can be used as a cure for
weight loss. And this quality also cold and sciatica, stroke, cancer,
and infections, especially among
older people because this meat can
safeguard muscle health. This is
due to its low percentage of saturated fatty acids and cholesterol
compared to other kinds of meat.
In fact the food value of camel
meat is higher than poultry meat
and equals that of the ostrich. Another quality which makes it good
for the elderly is its richness in
glycogen which is converted into
glucose and is needed by the nervous system to provide cell energy
and thus support the work of nerve
cells. It can also provide the elderly with the energy and protein
needed to compensate for tissue
damage and reproduce hormones
and enzymes needed for cell function. This is especially so when catabolism has surpassed anabolism
which puts the elderly in need of
easily metabolised and digested
food like camel meat. This meat is
also known for its high percentage
of iron, one of the basic ingredients
of blood haemoglobin which helps
to reduce the risk of anaemia as
proved by published research from
SQU’s Department of Animal and
Veterinary Sciences. Those people
who suffer from anaemia are advised to take camel meat.
Old applications and uses
Our ancestors used camel meat
for curing seasonal fever, sciatica
and shoulder pain, as well as for removing freckles by placing hot meat
slices on the freckled area. Camel
meat soup was used to cure corneal opacity and to strengthen eyesight, while its fat was used to ease
haemorrhoid pain. Furthermore, its
hump fat was used to remove tape
worm and its dried lung prescribed
as a cure for asthma, especially if
taken with honey. This was due to
the fact that the camel lung is rich in
vitamin C which reduces fever and
enhances immunity, which in turn
eases asthma infections.
Camel meat has thus been proved
to be of great nutritive value and it
is expected that current and future
researches will show even more of
its advantages. Thus, it is important
to encourage the consumption of
camel meat and to devise a national
plan to raise awareness among the
public of its qualities and uses at a
time when the demand for sources
of healthy food is greater than ever.