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lNo.28 summer10 The Newsletter of Ibsar, the Nature Conservation Center for Sustainable Futures

Together, let us engage AUB, for a better community...

In all fairness, AUB has been committed to its communities since inception as a

prime regional educator, but also as an active “service provider”. Many people have

been involved in outreach activities and projects, teachers and researchers, students

and staff, clubs and centers, all those who felt that our existence in this turbulent

area of the world should mean more than just an academic presence. And often

this depended on the efforts by dedicated individuals to make things happen, which

would go unrewarded (though the reward was never an aim by itself ) or unnoticed,

and even discouraged as I hear from many colleagues that serving our communities,

as desirable as it could be, is a low priority for the university; rather, and as the

“rules of game” dictate, faculty should be concentrating on more reliable sources, or

otherwise depend on personal story-telling by old friends and colleagues to gather

some past “community” involvement news and information.

AUB student volunteers planting trees

We have a center now; great… so, what do we do next? A simple but fundamental

question I asked myself as first director of the Center for Civic Engagement and

Community Service (CCECS) when it was established at AUB in 2008. The mission was

clearly stated, that “the primary goal of this center will be to provide opportunities

for faculty and students of all backgrounds at AUB to study and respond to social and

civic issues that are of critical importance to the Lebanese people and to the Middle

East”. Some could say that this is a noble attitude for an educational institution to

take, others may argue that this is the path that the university should have taken

long time ago. But haven’t we being doing this all along?

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Since then, many other activities were developed between CCECS and Ibsar following

the successful collaboration on the Power of Planting initiative, and this was a clear

indication that the “Power of Partnership” worked very well. Coordination lines were

But this is different now, what was supposed to be an “option” for the university

to take (or not) is no more. The worldwide trend is for academic institutions to

gear towards a healthier interaction with the community through simple actions

such as promoting volunteering service activities outside the university, but more

substantially by integrating the service to society with academic study and research.

And this is not only for the sake of showing a “good” face (or faith) for an institution

that aims at promoting social responsibility; indeed, it is to further enhance the

leaning and induce in it a flavor that the graduates will appreciate when they go out

and get involved in the real world of today. And so this is what the center is entrusted

to do, and back to the same question, how and where to start?

By the fact that AUB took upon itself to open its walls and initiate a center to engage

its community inside with the community outside means that the institutional

support is there. Therefore the main challenge is now to get the people at AUB on

board, and they will need to know about us and believe in our mission and objectives;

and so we had to go out and do it. At the time, there was one (half-time) director

and one assistant at the center, with occasional assistance from students, but there

was also an e-mail that works wonders, and many friends at AUB, personal and

professional, whose help and advice were key in the start-up and development of

CCECS. However, we were also worried that we need to move slowly to learn our way,

and not propose or offer services that we could not properly deliver. A viable strategy

was (and is still is) to start teaming with those at the university who have already a

track of commitment to community service and development, groups or individuals,

and this is how our first contacts with many at AUB started. Interestingly, and in the

case of Ibsar and a numbered few other centers or academic/administrative units

and student clubs, we did not need to knock on doors to reach out.

From day one, Ibsar and its people understood us very well; in fact they did help

us make our first move by requesting our assistance to solicit volunteers for their

participation in Ayam al-Ouloum (or Days of Science), a national event aiming to

bring science closer to a wide audience of all age spectators. Ibsar needed students

to run a series of interactive and educational games on the theme of biodiversity,

and so we provided and arranged for all needed logistics. As much as this required

a careful follow-up from our side, it was a simple task, and we wondered what real

or tangible benefit our intervention could have brought to Ibsar; they already had an

outreach unit and program with a list of Ibsar friends, and they enlisted volunteers

in the past. Perhaps they are doing us a favor, since many of Ibsar’s people are also

personal friends or acquaintances, so that we feel we could be of use; then be it, we

learned quite a bit from this modest experience. Well soon enough, we discovered

that this was not the case, since Ibsar did not wait long before and they proposed

to us to team and adventure with them on a long-term and sustained project, the

Seeds of Hope – Trees for Tomorrow, a community tree planting campaign with Ibsar

in various villages and towns across Lebanon.

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Mounir Mabsout

The CCECS has grown substantially since we started. But this growth is not evident

in the numbered few individuals who joined the center, or in the center’s space that is

still the same, but rather in the many friends we made at AUB who believed in us and

became our partners (and the list is growing), with Ibsar being the first to do, and still

the most present in the daily “life” of the center. Indeed, I have come to learn, as many

individuals or groups at the university who wish for us to project as a more humane

campus, that we will need to pool together and promote the spirit of cooperation if

our shared goal of social justice is to have an impact on our communities. At the end,

when we succeed to graduate skilled professionals who are also socially responsible

citizens, the university could safely claim that it has reached to its mission and promise

“to provide excellence in education, to participate in the advancement of knowledge

through research, and to serve the peoples of the Middle East and beyond.”

drawn so that efforts are not duplicated, and resources of the two centers were

pooled for a better outcome and deliverables. Eventually, this partnership served us

as a viable model which we emulated with others.

Our work with Ibsar did not stop at developing mutually beneficial activities bounded

within the walls of our centers. Soon after, we were able to work together and engage

the university community from various disciplines in service-driven projects that aim

to improve on the livelihood of people in need. The CCECS joined in a major rural

ecosystem/heath initiative led by Ibsar in the village of Aarsal, and invited Ibsar to

join in a greening and urban agriculture research and development project in the

neighborhood of AUB and different informal settings. In adopting such ventures

with Ibsar or along with other partners such as the Neighborhood Initiative, the

CCECS is aiming at introducing these multi-disciplinary studies in the classroom and

as class or research projects. This is currently involving several disciplines at AUB

in landscape and agriculture, engineering and planning, health, chemistry and the

environment, and others, and equally requires a viable partnership with external civic

organizations and participation by the outside communities and people. Indeed, this

is in line with one chief objective that the center is in the process of achieving, that

is the launching of community-based learning at AUB, where the service rendered to

the communities is integrated with the academic learning, with a tangible outcome

leading to the implementation of the studies “on the ground.”

Lora

x Ibsar translates Dr. Seuss children’s book to increase nature conservation awareness

The story was translated into Arabic for the benefit of all the children in the region.

The Lorax, the imaginary creature who defends the forest, was given the Arabic name

‘Tabrouh’ and the book was titled ‘Laow’. “The story highlights the importance of

In line with Ibsar’s interest in reaching out to society, Professor Salma Talhouk

undertook the task of translating Dr. Suess’s children’s book, The Lorax. This book,

telling the poignant story of the demolition of a forest for production purposes and

its effects on the local animal population, is a vital tool in creating environmental-

friendly thinking and awareness in the youth.

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The story was released at the end of May

2010 by ASALA publishers. The text is clear

and interesting, and the illustrations are

bright and marvelous. The Lorax was read

to students in schools all over Lebanon

by ibsar members as part of a nature

conservation awareness project. Children

engage well with the story; its fame in the

Western world has been paralleled by the

children here who read and fall in love with

Tabrouh and the plight of the strange yet

beautiful trees that are being demolished.

Kreidieh commented on the effect of the

book on her own daughter, who asks

to have it read to her again and again.

“We were glad to have such a unique book among our releases,” said Kreidieh. “The

book is one of a kind in different approaches; in theme, text, and illustrations.”

At the end of the book, when the forest is completely demolished, a single seed of

the extinct trees is planted, giving rise to hope anew.

trees in the life cycles of many creatures,” said publisher Shereen Kreidieh. “What

happens when we cut trees and abuse nature? The story concentrates on the concept

of biodiversity, with emphasis on the needs of various creatures, and how to meet

these needs in a new world.”

Unlike usual auctions, the ‘objects’/trees paid for, were neither seen, nor possessed.

They surely bear the name of the ‘acquirer’, who will have to take a trip to the village

or the city where they were planted in order to see but not to own them; Ibsar keeping

a reliable record of kind and number of planted trees.

The trend of ‘possessing’ is defeated in this auction. ‘Planting trees’ auction is

only about fulfilling the desire to restore, conserve and [why not] embellish, the

environment.

Hiba Krisht

Pla

nt a

Her

itag

e Au

ctio

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The ‘objects’ for sale were trees, identified by their names and their specificity. The

‘lots’ were divided and priced according to the number of trees. The unit price was

set at 10000LL, matching the cost of growing a seed into a small tree. The lot ranged

from 50,000LL to 1,000,000LL.

An auction is about competing to acquire the desired object at any price. It is

also the ‘laqta’ acquisition of this ‘thing’ the unique, original, priceless object.

Ibsar ‘planting trees’ auction has redefined the objectives of an auction; it was not

anymore, about a thing to possess. The auction promoted the ‘invaluable’ desire to

plant trees all over Lebanon.

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Ibsar highlights important plant areas (IPA) in Lebanon

This year Ibsar was approached by the International Union for the Conservation

of Nature (IUCN) to undertake a project that designates IPAs for Lebanon. IPA

designation is a process that is taking place all over the world, and it is done by

carrying out a rapid assessment of the flora of the country according to two basic

criteria set by the IUCN. The first entails defining areas that contain endemic species,

or local species that are not to found elsewhere; If these areas are not preserved the

species will become extinct.

The second criterion is to

locate areas that are rich in

a variety of species, either

having high flora content or

multiple endemic species.

Lastly, habitats that are

threatened are also eligible

for inclusion as IPA’s,

irrespective of whether it

contains endemic species

or not.

An example is the Lebanese coast, which is a habitat that is located nowhere else

in the country. The coast’s ecosystem is threatened by rapid urbanization, and this

makes it an Important Plant Area.

IPA

S in

Leb

anon

Ibsar team Dr. Mariana Yazbek, Mr. Mohamad El Zein, and Ms. Nisrine Houri identifying IPAS in Lebanon

The only objective remaining was to fulfil the desire to participate and sponsor

tree planting.

The pleasure of bidding is not lessened in the process. On the contrary, bidding for a

‘dream come true’ heightened the experience. Some of the bidders were experiencing

an auction for the first time. The thrill of bidding higher than the opponent and

sometimes ‘acquiring’ the lot was multiplied by the fact that no object was acquired.

Zeina Miskawi

Plant a heritage auction

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Dr. Mariana Yazbek spoke of her experience designating IPA’s. “This is the first

project I worked on after finishing my PhD. I had done a lot of field work in Lebanon

previously but I with this project I was surprised by the diversity we had. For example,

even though you might know beforehand that the Chouf area is very rich in species,

once you start actually listing the species you are astounded. Once we had the

numbers down they become strong evidence of the diversity in Lebanon.”

IPA’s are just the beginning. The same process is being carried out for designating

Important Bird Areas (IBA), Important Mammal Areas (IMA’s), and others. Ultimately

the findings will be compounded and key biodiversity areas with respect to all sorts

of life can be compounded.

Ethn

obot

anic

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Ibsar brings back ethnobotanical knowledge

Ibsar’s six-year efforts in learning about local plants have come together in and

illustrated guide to Lebanon’s flora called Plants and People: Ethnobotanical

Knowledge from Lebanon, Written in Arabic and English, and illustrated with both

paintings and photographs, Plants and People is co-authored by Ibsar’s Dr. Rami

Zurayk and Dr. Salma Talhouk.

Hiba Krisht

According to these criteria, IPA sites have been designated. This exercise revealed

that most of these site lie on the western slopes of the Mount Lebanon range and

include the country’s highest peak, Qornet Es-Sawda, as well as areas in along the

coast, the Anti-Lebanon mountain range, the semi-arid areas of the Bekaa valley, and

the marshes of the West Bekaa.

Endemic or threatened species are found in almost every designated IPA site, most

of them contain more than 10 nationally endemic species and some sites, such as

Bcharreh-Ehden, Chouf, Makmel, and Keserwan are exceptionally rich in endemics.

To help designate IPAs, an Ibsar collaborative team was formed and included Ibsar

member Professor Salma Talhouk, associate members, Dr. Mariana Yazbek, Ms.

Nisrine Machaka-Houri, Mr. Mohammad Al-Zein, Dr. Nada Sinno-Seoud and Dr. Samir

Safi at the Lebanese University. The team performed extensive literature reviews to

build a database recording which species are reportedly found in which areas, and

then compiled their findings into a document listing all the species found in a given

specific area. Accordingly, they were able to designate areas are high in plant and

endemic species.

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Ibdaa 2010 fosters green solutions to everyday problems

This book is a watershed of the work in Ibsar on the indigenous plants of Lebanon

and is an outcome of a fruiful relationship with the Italian Cooperation Office of the

Embassy of Italy in Beirut, the Italian NGO UCODEP, and Slow Food Beirut. The end

result is this book, a compilation of the ethnobotanical knowledge on local plants

that are commonly used for food, aesthetics, or medicine in Lebanon.

In the introduction to Plants and People, Dr. Talhouk and Dr. Zurayk write about the

history of ethnobotanical knowledge. Stemming from the time of the hunter-gatherers

when people relied mostly on plants for their nourishment, knowledge was compiled

and shared, and plants became vital for food and for their medicinal potential.

“Within communities, a few men and women became the acknowledged experts in

recognizing the plants, harvesting them, and extracting their components in order to

concentrate their effect. Many became priests or priestesses, shamans, sorcerers or

witches,” wrote Dr. Talhouk and Zurayk.

Some plants became considered sacred and were associated with religious worship,

while others had more ordinary uses in construction and art in addition to food.

Communication and trade triggered the exchange of knowledge, and botanical

knowledge was mixed and merged. Plants were transferred into new environments.

Plants and People is an effort at bringing some of this ethnobotanical knowledge.

Proceeds from its sales will go towards promoting biodiversity conservation in

Lebanon.

International Biodiversity Day At AUB (IBDAA) this year had a fresh twist. The annual

poster and project exhibit, taking place this year on May 21 facing Ada Dodge Hall,

strove towards nature conservation by using “green products.”

The modern medical industry capitalizes on ethnobotanical know-how. Most of the

drugs we buy from pharmacies originate from the plant kingdom. Now, ethnobotanical

knowledge has disappeared as people have moved away from gathering wild plants

for food and other usages.

Household items such as cinnamon, charcoal, and thyme can be green solutions for

getting rid of common problems like bad smells, fungus, and cigarette smoke in an

environmentally-friendly way. The object of having students innovate these solutions

is to replace more detrimental household products with effective safe means of

eradicating problems.

Another wonderful aspect of this book is its use of art as a medium for scientific

expression, a concept that Ibsar is dedicated to. That is why in the production of

Plants and People, undergraduate student and gifted painter Cynthia Garios, final

year Graphic Design student Waleed Saab, and photographer Khaled Sleem all

contributed to making the art that graces every page.

IBD

AA

201

0

Hiba Krisht

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Dr. Saliba spoke about the

involvement this year. “Ibdaa

2010 showed the highest number

of participants to date,” she said.

“Students shared their creative

projects with great enthusiasm.”

On May 27th, 2010 Ibsar hosted a retreat in West Hall open to all faculty member.

The purpose was to foster wider involvement in Ibsar from within AUB including non-

scientific faculty. The retreat was also attended by Provost Ahmad Dallal and Dean

Nahla Hwalla of the Faculty of Agriculture and Food Sciences.

“We have organized this retreat to encourage peers to join our collective academic

efforts, because disciplinary boundaries do not exist between nature conservation

and human well-being which are interconnected” remarked Ibsar director and

professor Salma Talhouk.

Following their interest, participants joined one of three discussion groups

representing broad themes of medicinal aspects of plants, people and nature, and

Ibsa

r R

etre

at

Ibsar Spring Retreat

Hiba Krisht

Other purposes of Ibdaa are teaching

students the concept of completion and

creating a scientific forum where students

discuss the scientific values of their

attendees. According to Professor Najat

Saliba of the Chemistry department, “This

means that students will create the idea,

develop it, materialize it and present it in a

scientific manner.” In other words, Ibdaa not

only encourages rethinking bioconservation

solutions, it also fosters innovation on the

students’ part.

Participants this year ranged from both

science and non-science courses, bridging

the gap between the sciences and the arts

when it comes to biodiversity. Some of the more artistic contributions to Ibdaa

included a work of art called “Nature” created by ceramics students and consisting

of three sculptures representing environmental destruction.

Another project was a microbiology study carried out at the Jeita Grotto showing

that there are traces of E. coli in the caves, marking the disturbance of the ecological

balance.

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Lojine Kamel

economic value of plants. Reporting on the discussion that took place in the first

group, professor Rabih Talhouk indicated that issues that were raised included the

possibility of offering courses, consolidating research efforts, and disseminating

research findings. Discussions on the perception of nature within the Lebanese and

Middle East culture from people of different academic orientations and faculties took

place in the second group. Professor Jala Makhzoumi highlighted several key ideas

that were proposed, including the importance of teaching about literary figures who

wrote about nature internationally, and their subsequent impact on the global and

individual opinion of nature. Reporting on the third and last group, professor Najat

Saliba explained that the discussion that took place was primarily within the context

of Ibdaa and the educational aspects of this event regarding the entrepreneurial

process of developing nature based products.

Professor Makhzoumi, discussed the significance of the inclusion of these topics in

conjunction with nature conservation, stating “We need to follow up on these aspects

for they have not been explored thoroughly.” Indeed, the retreat served more as a

way of announcing Ibsar to peers while widening membership and interest in topics

that were previously only broached by scientists.

It is without a doubt that nature awareness can be very much implemented in several

key disciplines, as evident by the wide range of them that was covered during

the retreat. Medicinal, economic, literary, and social academics have many fields

associated with nature, and its integration should be “very do-able,” according to

Dr. Makhzoumi.

Professor Makhzoumi,

herself is a landscape

architect, spoke highly

of the possibility of

widening the scope of

Ibsar in the future, as

well as the spread of

interest and awareness

about biodiversity to

the AUB students and

faculty. “Individuals

can contribute independently or in collaboration with others, however the most

important thing remains to be the integration of the Ibsar mission within AUB’s

curriculum,” remarked Makhzoumi.

Professor Salma Talhouk expanded on this point, ascertaining the value Ibsar

places on faculty collaboration: “The best way to guarantee that Ibsar remains

a distinguished academic platform at AUB is to ensure that membership in Ibsar

remains all encompassing and dynamic in its growth and focus, that it embraces new

disciplines and programs, integrates new approaches and view points, and seeks

to provide support and inspiration to students, peers, and the community at large.”

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Stu

dent

Vol

unte

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rofi

les Volunteer profiles: Samer Bu Jawdeh and Nada Jouni

In addition to the planting trips, Bu Jawdeh took part in the Mother Earth seed-planting

event at AREC on April 19-20. “It was lots of fun,” he said. “We had a biodiversity

costume party, where each of us had to wear a costume related to nature. We also

took a look at the translation of Dr. Suess’s book The Lorax.” The next day, he was

back out the fields helping out with transplanting, weeding, and watering. Jouni, on

New faces and eager hands striving to preserve biodiversity are part-and-parcel of

the Ibsar experience. Arbi Sarkissian, Outreach Project Coordinator at Ibsar, held

training sessions for new volunteers at the AUB campus, where he taught them how

to plant trees by live demonstration. Two of these volunteers, Mechanical Engineering

student Samer Bu Jawdeh and Landscape Design and Ecosystem Management

student Nada Jouni, took away a medley of positive experiences from the planting

trips they took part in.

“We travelled to many areas,” Bu Jawdeh said, “such as Baabda, Qana, Tripoli, Ras-

el-Metn, and Anjar. Every place was beautiful and unique. Trip after trip, our hands

interacted with the land. Our teamwork with the local volunteers was very fruitful.”

Bu Jawdeh also spoke of the sadness in the planting experience. “Once when we

went weeding in the South, we discovered that many trees we previously planted

had actually died.” He stressed the importance of the local community, saying that

if they play an active role in preserving the trees, they will flourish. “In the end, the

success of Ibsar’s mission lies in the collaboration, empathy, and awareness of the

whole country,” he said.

Jouni, who has been volunteering with Ibsar for two years, has gained enough

experience during her planting trips to become a tree-planting coordinator, one of

Sarkissian’s monitoring team. “This has been a really great experience for me,” she

said. “I’m still aiming to do more.”

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Ibsar researchers purify anticancer substances from indigenous Lebanese plants

“The most beautiful and inspiring thing I saw was the diversity of the plants and

trees sharing common land. Biodiversity is a gift we should cling to and protect,”

concluded Bu Jawdeh. “It is also a matter of identity construction and social unity.

We drastically need more planters from within AUB and Lebanon. Hopefully we can

reach out more.”

Throughout the last six

years, faculty members

and researchers from the

Faculty of Arts and Sciences,

the Faculty of Agriculture

and Food Science, and

the Faculty of Medicine

have been conducting

studies through Ibsar on

sesquiterpene lactones.

Sesquiterpene lactones are substances that are found in medicinal plants that are

indigenous to Lebanon and that have promising anticancer and anti-inflammatory

functions. Sesquiterpene lactones are a type of plant secondary metabolite. Plant

secondary metabolites are defined as products of metabolism that are not essential

for the growth, reproduction, or development of an organism.

Instead, sesquiterpene lactones are needed for plants to adjust to their environment

and to defend themselves against predators and harsh environmental conditions

and consequently play a major role in plant biodiversity.

AUB faculty have collaborated to write a review called “What Made Sesquiterpene

Lactones Reach Cancer Clinical Trials?” PhD student Akram Ghantous, and Professors

Hala Gali-Muhtasib, Najat Saliba, and Nadine Darwiche coauthored the review, which

appeared in Drug Discovery Today, a journal that has been at the cutting edge of the

science underpinning drug discovery and development since 1996.

Researchers at Ibsar have purified several sesquiterpene lactones with promising

anticancer and anti-inflammatory activities similar to those published in the review.

Res

earc

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the other hand, pitched in at the annual BIOKIDS and biodiversity days organized by

Ibsar, in addition to planting Seeds of Hope. Her experiences were augmented by the

wonderful staff she had to work with. “I would really like to thank the Ibsarians for

their lovely company and their motivation,” she said.

Hiba Krisht

Centaunea aintensis

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Send your news, articles, and editorial comments to

Ibsar@aub.edu.lb.

Visit the Ibsar website at www.Ibsar.org.

Edited by S.N. Talhouk, Farah Aridi and Arbi Sarkissian

Designed by Layal Jradi © 2011

Hiba Krisht

The importance of preserving native medicinal plants is paramount; their promising

role in fighting cancer and inflammation means extra care should be taken to utilize

them in a sustainable way.

Corresponding author Professor

Nadine Darwiche expressed her

enthusiasm about this study.

“I am very excited about all of

this and hopeful that one of

the sesquiterpene lactones that

we extracted and purified from

indigenous Lebanese plants will

make it to the cancer clinic.”

Achillea falcata