::: AQUAMARINECLUB Sharm El Sheikh South Sinai, Egypt

DIVING HISTORY / GREAT PEOPLE WITH HISTORY / DR. ISMAIL SERAGELDIN

DR. ISMAIL SERAGELDIN

Ismail Serageldin, Director, Bibliotheca Alexandrina …

also chairs the Boards of Directors for each of the BA's affiliated research institutes and museums and is Distinguished Professor at Wageningen University in the Netherlands.

Serageldin has also served in a number of capacities at the World Bank, including as Vice President for Environmentally and Socially Sustainable Development (1992-1998).

He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in engineering from Cairo University and Masters' degree and a PhD from Harvard University and has received 18 honorary doctorates. With his efforts, the year of 1997 was named the "year of the reef", and because of his unequalled efforts to protect and preserve coral reefs, a new coral species was named after him. (Montastrea serageldini)

We inquired into that matter a bit more, and learned that beyond his love for the sea and for corals, Dr. Serageldin has
been at the forefront of supporting a lot of serious work to study and protect corals all around the world.
He helped involve the World Bank with the first efforts at designing a Marine conservation Strategy, and then in the
design of a world-wide system of protected marine areas. Dr. Serageldin also worked closely with the late Captain Jacques-Yves Cousteau,and then joined forces with the Cousteau society on protection of the coastlines, an effort led
by Francine Cousteau. He also worked with then Under-Secretary of State Tim Wirth on the launch of the international
Coral Reef Initiative (ICRI).
He also organized the world conference on saving the world's coral reefs, ending with an eloquent plea for action. Dr. Serageldin also supported the global efforts to establish the global taxonomy of coral reefs partly, and the special
efforts of the one and only J.E. (Charlie) Veron. But it was such an unusual honor for Prof. Veron to bestow upon Dr.
Ismail Serageldin… Thank you Charlie, we know that nothing in the world could have pleased Dr. Ismail as much!