The world’s first Arabic birding app, launched by the Ornithological Society of the Middle East (OSME), has been met with widespread excitement from nature enthusiasts in the region. Thousands of people have already downloaded the free app, which features pictures, descriptions of behaviour and samples of bird song.

From 17th – 29th November, governments from across the world will meet at the UN Biodiversity Conference in Egypt to review progress towards conserving biodiversity for people and planet and start to craft a new deal for nature and people – and BirdLife will be attending. The summit will tackle critical issues relevant to all of us. We list the highlights.

Many misconceptions have crept into international media representations of the Middle East, making this region one of the most misunderstood in the world. Here we bust six myths with examples from our conservation work in the region.

Assad Serhal, hunter-turned-conservationist, now Director of BirdLife Lebanon and winner of the MIDORI Prize for Biodiversity 2018, shares what motivates his important work to create community-based protected areas in the Middle East