Turkish population at Birecik has gone 
extinct. (See details under Turkey and 
Morocco.) 
Education Following his visit to Britain 
in 1987 when he attended the Interna- 
tional Centre for Conservation Educa- 
tion (ICCE) conservation education 
training course, Jamil Al-Ba'dani has 
been giving a series of lectures on 
Yemen's bird life, using a series of 
slides prepared at ICCE. An educa- 
tional book on the birds of Yemen (see 
Bulletin 20:59) is now nearing comple- 
tion, and it is hoped that it \vi\\ be 
produced with sponsorship later this 
year. 
Environmental Protection Council An 
Environmental Protection Council was 
formed in 1989 imder the Ministry of 
Municipalities. The Council works 
across various ministries, and has six 
committees covering, amongst others, 
environmental education, industrial 
pollution and toxic waste. There is no 
committee clearly dealing with rural 
environmental issues, nor is ^^dldlife 
or nature conservation explicit in the 
Council's remit. It is not clear how the 
Council will develop, or what it will 
achieve: at present it has no staff. The 
Environmental Education Committee 
is considering rimning a conservation 
seminar with the aim of making 
Yemen's decision makers aware of the 
environmental problems and possible 
solutions. We look forward to being 
able to report on the Council's devel- 
opment and activities in future. 
Egypt 
First nature reserve Egypt is about to 
establish its first nature reserve, at the 
southern tip of the Sinai peninsula. 
The Ras Muhamniad National Park is 
an important migration point for storks 
and raptors, and local mangroves arc 
important for waders and herons. 
Cattle Egrets at Giza Zoo The trees adja- 
cent to Giza Zoo contain an enormous 
colony of 2-3,(X)0 pairs of nesting Cattle 
Egrets Bubulcus ibis. Unfortunately, 
some local people wanted the colony 
moved because of the mess and distur- 
bance it causes them. Cattle Egrets are 
one of the most well-known protected 
birds in Egypt, and are regarded as 
'friends to the farmers' because of the 
large number of insects that they eat. 
The authorities started felling the trees, 
but this was halted following an out- 
cry in the press and letters from OSME, 
OSE and others to the Ministry of 
Environmental Affairs. We congratu- 
late the minister, Dr Atif Abeid, on his 
swift response. There is now a com- 
mittee with non-governmental organi- 
sation representation to manage the 
colony, but there is still talk of trying to 
move the colony elsewhere. Any alter- 
native site could be worse both for the 
birds and people; so there is need for 
further study including an emaron- 
mcntal impact assessment before any 
attempted move is made. 
Falcons for sale Although all birds of 
prey are protected by law in Egypt, 
hundreds of falcons have been found 
for sale in the markets of North Sinai. 
In El Arish, Kestrels Falco tinnunculus 
sell for about five and Red-footed Fal- 
cons F. vespertinus for about 10 Egyp- 
tian pounds each (about US $1.50- 
$5.00). These are used both as 'pets' 
and to capture Peregrines F. peregrinus 
which can fetch up to US $20,000. The 
capture technique was apparently de- 
veloped for field research by Cornell 
University, and has recently arrived 
in Egypt from Qatar. This flouting of 
the law has been brought to the atten- 
tion of the Governor of North Sinai 
and the local environmental protec- 
tion authorities, who have said that 
they will try to enforce the law during 
next autumn's migration season. We 
look forward to being able to report 
their success in a future bulletin. 
19 
