The Arab Encyclopedia of Life (AEOL): First Preparatory Meeting
14 April 2010
On the sidelines of BioVisionAlexandria 2010 Conference, the first preparatory meeting of the Arab Encyclopedia of Life (AEOL) project was held.
After the Bibliotheca Alexandrina (BA) signed the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) in December 2009, with the Smithsonian Institution, USA (on behalf of the EOL) an Arab Encyclopedia of Life website will be launched.
The Arab Encyclopedia of Life project aims to serve the Arab region by creating a documented Arabic database of species known to science, either through providing new information on species distributed in the Arab world and digitizing biodiversity literature published in Arabic; or translating into Arabic sections of the material in the EOL.
In the First Preparatory Meeting of the Arab Encyclopedia of Life (AEOL) Project Arab scientists and researchers representing the Arab World discussed the primary work plan and subgroup project activities.
This project will be executed by the Arab Biodiversity Committee (ABC), a committee composed of high caliber scientific experts in the field of biodiversity from all over the Arab region, and sponsored by the Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development.
The meeting was a closed meeting, only by invitation.
Prof. Basem Amer and Prof. Asaad Khalil during the Plant subcommittee discussion
Dr. Omar El-Badawy, Manager, Centre for Environment & Development for the Arab Region & Europe (CEDARE) during the AEOL preparatory meeting
Ms. Faeqa Saeed AlSaleh, Advisor to the Secretary General of the League of Arab States, elaborating on the importance of the AEOL to the Arab region
Prof. Salah Soliman, Advisor, Bibliotheca Alexandrina, during the AEOL Preparatory Meeting discussion
Prof. Abdulaziz Qarawei, King Saud University and member of the Microbiology subcommittee