The screening was held under the patronage of Dr Ali Obaid Al Dhaheri, Ambassador of the UAE to China and in partnership with the Environment Agency Abu Dhabi and the Beijing Foreign Studies University.
Image Nations Back to the Wild, documentary was screened at the Sheikh Zayed Center for Arabic Language and Islamic Studies of Beijing Foreign Studies University on 20 June 2019.
The 30-minute documentary depicts an Abu Dhabi-led programme to reintroduce the extinct-in-the-wild Scimitar-horned Oryx to Chad.
The screening was held under the patronage of Dr Ali Obaid Al Dhaheri, Ambassador of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to China and in partnership with the Environment Agency Abu Dhabi and the Beijing Foreign Studies University.
The screening was followed by an in-depth panel discussion with senior wildlife expert Mohamed Al Remeithi from the Environment Agency Abu Dhabi, Si Ping, Head of the International Cooperation office under the China Wildlife Conservation Association, and Dr Zhou Jinfeng, Secretary-General of China Biodiversity Conservation and Green Development Foundation.
The event was attended by the UAEs Minister of Education, His Excellency Hussain Ibrahim Al Hammadi, the UAE Ambassador to Beijing, Dr Ali Obaid Al Dhaheri, the Ambassadors to Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Somalia, as well as members of the United Nations and UNESCO and over 100 students from local schools and universities who are studying Arabic language and culture.
The Environment Agencys Scimitar-horned Oryx Reintroduction initiative is one of the worlds largest mammalian reintroduction programmes and aims to create a self-sustaining herd of over 500 animals in Chads Ouadi Rimé-Ouadi Achim Reserve. The Scimitar-horned Oryx was declared Extinct-in-the-wild by the International Union for Conservation of Nature in 2000; with around 3,000 individuals, the UAE is home to the worlds largest remaining population.
Produced by the Academy Award-winning media and entertainment company, Image Nation, Back to the Wild follows Nya, an Oryx, and the rest of her herd. It highlights EADs efforts to date, including releasing more than 150 Oryxes to the herd, and the birth of the first wild calf in almost 30 years.
The re-introduction programme has been enthusiastically supported by EADs partners: The Crown Prince Court of Abu Dhabi, The Sahara Conservation Fund, The Smithsonian Institution and The Zoological Society of London.
