Protecting nature, with Fairuz songs and small wins on urban balconies.

The career of Professor Salma Talhouk in the Department of Landscape Design and Ecosystem Management, started as a biodiversity conservation ‘lab scientist’, and has transformed her into a ‘people scientist’. She explains her journey as one of understanding that we protect nature by getting people to directly enjoy nature. This requires changing behavior by understanding the drivers and contexts of people’s lives, which is more challenging in today’s mostly urbanized societies. So she seeks small victories in raising people’s awareness and enjoyable experiences, even at the level of home balconies. She launched the AUB Botanic Gardens, having already directed the AUB Nature Conservatory, and now plans innovative projects like tapping grandparents as a positive resource, developing apps that raise people’s awareness and enjoyment of nature, and interpreting the songs of Fairuz that touch on Lebanon’s natural beauty and diversity.