Arabian Leopard Appeal, Eastern Yemen

While the Arabian Leopard Panthera pardus nimr is strictly speaking not within the remit of OSME, we feel that the conservation of its habitat in eastern Yemen also has a direct impact upon the avifauna of the area. It is for this reason that OSME has agreed to publicise the following appeal on our website and hope that you will be encouraged to make a pledge before the 30 September deadline.

The Foundation for the Protection of the Arabian Leopard in Yemen (FPALY) (www.yemenileopard.org) was licensed by the Yemen Ministry of Social Affairs and Labour in November 2009. This effective conservation NGO has an active and committed Board of Trustees headed by former Prime Minister Dr. Abdul Karim Al-Iryani and staffed by former Minister of Water & Environment Abdulrahman Al-Eryani, Yemeni business leader Haitham Alaini, Yemeni artist Adnan Jumman, and 50-year Yemen resident Marco Livadiotti. FPALY has a greater than 80% success rate in getting its projects funded by conservation donors and all three of the proposals that it submitted to World Bank/GEF on behalf of the Yemen Ministry of Water & Environment have been approved by the GEF council. Although founded and directed by an expatriate, David Stanton, the Foundation, which has five full-time Yemeni staff, will be nationalizing its leadership within the next year and rebranding to more obviously reflect its broad conservation mandate. The public has a rare opportunity to support FPALY’s work through a web-based funding drive at: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2001600289/nightwatch-catching-arabi…

The minimum pledge is only $1 but unless the funding goal is met by September 30th, the funding drive will be cancelled. Therefore, please take the ten minutes necessary to watch the video, review the profile, and hopefully make a pledge. If you could pass the details to your friends and colleagues this would be helpful.