Nabegh Ghazal Asswad

Since an early age, Nabegh was always a caring individual looking after nature in his surroundings and was fascinated by what can be seen in excursions with family into the countryside to enjoy nature. Having earned a degree in flora, forestry and ecology from the University of Aleppo, he was eager to learn about the other half of the natural world and this was the motivation to pursue a doctorate from the School of Geography at the University of Nottingham on wildlife ecology and management at Sherwood Forest, Nottinghamshire.to understand wild animals, with a special focus on birds and how they use their natural habitats to thrive.

Before joining IFAW as a programme manager in the Middle East and North Africa office in October 2021, Nabegh worked for BirdLife International Middle East Office in Amman, Jordan (2016-2021) to coordinate the conservation and awareness activities of the EU LIFE Egyptian Vulture New Life Project in some of the Middle East countries. This was following a stint as a consultant to the Migratory Soaring Bird Project with Birdlife, UNDP & GEF to advocate for tackling one of the threats that migratory birds were facing in the Middle East: hunting. He negotiated some common ground with ethical hunters to hunt responsibly and abide by the hunting rules in terms of hunting season, methods and species by having elite hunters from the Middle East act responsibly and in an exemplary way in 2013. After the regional assessment of the illegal killing of birds in the Mediterranean and the Arabian Peninsula, Nabegh co-led the development of a road map to tackle the hunting issue in the Arabian Peninsula and the Middle East in 2020-2021.

Using his experience with birds and in dealing with hunting and how to combat poaching, he is leading the work to supervise the rescuing efforts for injured birds in Lebanon by LAMB with IFAW’s support. He is currently developing this primitive facility into a better rescue centre that will be involved in a long-term activity to continue the rehabilitation work and release those treatable birds into the skies to continue their migration between Europe and Africa.

Upon joining IFAW, he is helping with capacity building and DISRUPT training in the area and in supporting the prevention and combat of wildlife trafficking and providing general advice and guidance about animal welfare where needed. He worked on updating the Arabic version of the Identification Manual for Species in Trade (CITES listed species) in the MENA region to be in line with the latest CITES appendices and as per the needs of customs and law enforcement personnel to apply CITES rightly and effectively in the MENA region. He will then aid in developing the Manual to be targeted for Eastern Africa as per the latest updates from CITES CoP19. He will also be involved in a project funded by the USFWS to combat the illegal trade of big cats between the Horn of Africa and the Middle East.