RIYADH, 26 April — The Ford Motor Company in cooperation with the National Commission for Wildlife Conservation and Development launched the 2001 Ford Conservation and Environmental Grants here last night, highlighting private sector cooperation in conservation and environmental projects in Saudi Arabia.
Farid Abdelnour, Ford’s national sales manager, said Ford was cooperating with NCWCD and World Wide Fund for Nature. The grants apply in four areas: natural environment, environmental education, conservation engineering and the preservation of historical and cultural heritage. Funding environmental projects by the private sector follows a recent call by the Shoura Council for privatization of the NCWCD operations and concerns that lack of funding is hampering the agency’s projects.
Abdelnour said the Ford program was one of the largest initiatives of its kind in the world to help protect environment. Grants will be available to individuals, community groups and other non-profit organizations in support of ongoing projects. He said two environmental projects from Saudi Arabia —one training project in eco-tourism and nature-based recreation and another a forest rehabilitation project —received grants through last year’s Ford grants program in the Gulf, where total funding totaled $60,000.
One of the jury members nominating projects or individuals for $90,000 grants this year is Dr. Abdulaziz Abuzinada, NCWCD secretary-general.
Application forms as well as information about the program in English and Arabic are available on www.ford-environmentalgrants.com. or from Ford and Mercury dealers and the offices of the NCWCD in the Kingdom.
The Ford grants program originated from the 17-year-old Henry Ford European Conservation Awards, an annual program that has helped the execution of some 15,000 environmental projects and helped 110,000 individuals across 34 countries since 1983. Last year, the Ford grants were awarded to 50 countries including some Middle East countries.
