Renewable Energy Project in Yemen to Benefit over 62,000 Yemenis

Using Renewable Energy to Improve Quality of Life Project Concludes in Yemen with Benefiting over 62,000 Yemenis. (SPA)
Using Renewable Energy to Improve Quality of Life Project Concludes in Yemen with Benefiting over 62,000 Yemenis. (SPA)
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Renewable Energy Project in Yemen to Benefit over 62,000 Yemenis

Using Renewable Energy to Improve Quality of Life Project Concludes in Yemen with Benefiting over 62,000 Yemenis. (SPA)
Using Renewable Energy to Improve Quality of Life Project Concludes in Yemen with Benefiting over 62,000 Yemenis. (SPA)

Yemeni Prime Minister Maeen Abdulmalik attended in Aden the closing ceremony of the Using Renewable Energy to Improve Quality of Life Project, which was implemented with a trilateral partnership of the Saudi Development and Reconstruction Program for Yemen (SDRPY), Arab Gulf Program for Development (AGFUND), and Selah Foundation for Development, SPA said on Wednesday.
The project has benefited 62,000 people in five Yemeni governorates of Hadhramaut, Abyan, Lahij, Taiz and Al-Hudaydah.
During the ceremony, Yemeni Minister of Social Affairs and Labor Mohamad Al-Zaouri praised the generous support of the government of Saudi Arabia, through the SDRPY, AGFUND, and Selah Foundation for Development, for holding vital projects that affect citizens' lives and contribute to improving their standard of life.
He stressed that this support contributes to achieving sustainable development in the country.
The project significantly contributes to enhancing health and education facilities by efficiently meeting their energy needs in a sustainable manner. It supports the operation of critical medical equipment, creates conducive educational environments for students and teachers, and provides sustainable and accessible energy to targeted families through the installation of home appliance systems.
Moreover, this initiative aims to uplift the standard of living in Yemen by improving beneficiaries' daily lives, fostering economic development through increased agricultural production, bolstering food security for Yemenis, reducing carbon emissions to protect the environment, and establishing a clean, sustainable energy source.
The venture involves the rehabilitation of 12 drinking water wells using solar energy systems, provisioning of 35 renewable-energy-based agricultural irrigation systems, powering 20 educational and health facilities, and delivering renewable energy to 133 homes across five Yemeni governorates—Hadhramaut, Abyan, Lahij, Taiz, and Al-Hudaydah.
Project activities encompass comprehensive training courses tailored for field engineers. These courses focus on implementing solar energy systems, aiming to enhance the skills of field technical teams and fortify their technical capacities. The project's substantial contributions to society address numerous water-related challenges, such as interruptions and accessibility issues. The training curriculum covers a wide array of technical and administrative aspects.



'Dinosaur Highway' Tracks Dating Back 166 Million Years are Discovered in England

In this undated photo provided by the University of Birmingham on Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025, work underway as five extensive trackways that formed part of a "dinosaur highway" are uncovered, at Dewars Farm Quarry in Oxfordshire, England. (University of Birmingham via AP)
In this undated photo provided by the University of Birmingham on Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025, work underway as five extensive trackways that formed part of a "dinosaur highway" are uncovered, at Dewars Farm Quarry in Oxfordshire, England. (University of Birmingham via AP)
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'Dinosaur Highway' Tracks Dating Back 166 Million Years are Discovered in England

In this undated photo provided by the University of Birmingham on Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025, work underway as five extensive trackways that formed part of a "dinosaur highway" are uncovered, at Dewars Farm Quarry in Oxfordshire, England. (University of Birmingham via AP)
In this undated photo provided by the University of Birmingham on Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025, work underway as five extensive trackways that formed part of a "dinosaur highway" are uncovered, at Dewars Farm Quarry in Oxfordshire, England. (University of Birmingham via AP)

A worker digging up clay in a southern England limestone quarry noticed unusual bumps that led to the discovery of a “dinosaur highway” and nearly 200 tracks that date back 166 million years, researchers said Thursday.

The extraordinary find made after a team of more than 100 people excavated the Dewars Farm Quarry, in Oxfordshire, in June expands upon previous paleontology work in the area and offers greater insights into the Middle Jurassic period, researchers at the universities of Oxford and Birmingham said.

“These footprints offer an extraordinary window into the lives of dinosaurs, revealing details about their movements, interactions, and the tropical environment they inhabited,” said Kirsty Edgar, a micropaleontology professor at the University of Birmingham, The AP reported.

Four of the sets of tracks that make up the so-called highway show paths taken by gigantic, long-necked, herbivores called sauropods, thought to be Cetiosaurus, a dinosaur that grew to nearly 60 feet (18 meters) in length. A fifth set belonged to the Megalosaurus, a ferocious 9-meter predator that left a distinctive triple-claw print and was the first dinosaur to be scientifically named two centuries ago.

An area where the tracks cross raises questions about possible interactions between the carnivores and herbivores.

“Scientists have known about and been studying Megalosaurus for longer than any other dinosaur on Earth, and yet these recent discoveries prove there is still new evidence of these animals out there, waiting to be found," said Emma Nicholls, a vertebrate paleontologist at the Oxford University Museum of Natural History.

Nearly 30 years ago, 40 sets of footprints discovered in a limestone quarry in the area were considered one of the world's most scientifically important dinosaur track sites. But that area is mostly inaccessible now and there's limited photographic evidence because it predated the use of digital cameras and drones to record the findings.

The group that worked at the site this summer took more than 20,000 digital images and used drones to create 3-D models of the prints. The trove of documentation will aid future studies and could shed light on the size of the dinosaurs, how they walked and the speed at which they moved.

“The preservation is so detailed that we can see how the mud was deformed as the dinosaur’s feet squelched in and out," said Duncan Murdock, an earth scientist at the Oxford museum. "Along with other fossils like burrows, shells and plants we can bring to life the muddy lagoon environment the dinosaurs walked through.”

The findings will be shown at a new exhibit at the museum and also broadcast on the BBC's “Digging for Britain” program next week.