For volunteers caring for Qatar’s community cats, rescue is often the final chapter of a much longer story. By the time an injured cat reaches a veterinary clinic, it may already have survived months of hunger, disease, road accidents, or abandonment. While rescuers devote countless hours to saving animals in distress, they share one conviction: many of those emergencies could have been prevented. That belief has shaped a growing movement among volunteer groups and independent rescuers who argue that lasting change depends not on rescuing more cats, but on preventing more from ending up on the streets in the first place. For independent rescuer Iryna Tymoshenko, the mission began seven years ago after discovering orphaned kittens whose mother had died near her home. What started as an effort to save a handful of vulnerable animals gradually became a daily commitment to caring for 72 cats while rescuing sick and injured community animals whenever possible. Her home has since become a temporary sanctuary where rescued cats recover, are sterilised and vaccinated, and eventually find permanent homes. Some have even been adopted overseas. “I do not just feed them; I rescue sick and injured cats,” Tymoshenko said. Although she spends around QR1,500 each month on food and water, emergency medical care represents the greatest financial burden. During the past two months alone, she spent approximately QR24,000 treating 13 critically ill or injured cats suffering from broken limbs, spinal injuries, severe infections, and other conditions. Whenever possible, she treats minor wounds herself, but she turns to veterinary clinics whenever specialist care is needed. More difficult than the financial burden, she says, is the emotional one: “I know that in 99% of cases, I am their last chance to survive.” Despite the heartbreak of losing some animals, she continues because she believes every rescue offers another chance at life. Yet Tymoshenko also believes rescue alone will never solve the problem. She advocates wider implementation of Trap-Neuter-Return programmes, stronger oversight of breeders and pet shops, greater awareness of adoption and a commitment never to abandon pets when families relocate. Doha resident Sabina Huseynova shares a similar philosophy. She feeds both stray cats and dogs every day while volunteering with local animal welfare groups, spending around QR1,000 each month on food and sterilisation procedures. Although she cannot adopt every animal she encounters, she believes helping where possible is a responsibility she willingly accepts. “Feeding and supporting them is the minimum I can do to ensure their well-being,” she said. Like many volunteers, Huseynova believes sterilisation – not relocation – is the sustainable way to manage community cat populations. Returning sterilised cats to their original territories, she says, helps prevent further breeding without disrupting established colonies. That message is echoed by every organisation interviewed. For The Pearl Animal Welfare, responsible pet ownership begins before an animal ever reaches the street. Every abandoned pet and every unplanned litter, volunteers say, increases the number of animals dependent on community care. They encourage owners to sterilise their pets, adopt from rescue organisations rather than buy animals and ensure pets accompany families when relocating. TNR Qatar argues that long-term progress depends on greater public understanding of Trap-Neuter-Return. The organisation encourages residents to become volunteer trappers, sponsor spay-and-neuter procedures or support people already managing community colonies. It also advocates broader education on sterilisation and mandatory registration of cats and dogs to discourage abandonment. “You cannot shelter or adopt your way out of this homeless cat crisis – but you can TNR,” says Charlottle from TNR Qatar. Streets of Stray believes every resident can contribute, even without managing colonies. Volunteering with rescue groups, fostering animals, reporting injured cats, sponsoring veterinary care, supporting adoption campaigns, or simply helping to keep feeding areas clean can all make a meaningful difference. Residents who choose to feed community cats, the group says, should provide suitable cat food, ensure fresh drinking water is available – particularly during the summer months – and leave feeding sites clean afterward. “Caring for animals and caring for our communities should always go hand in hand,” the volunteers said. Although the organisations differ in size and approach, they are united by a common vision. Their goal is not to feed more cats every year; it is to create a future where fewer cats need rescuing at all. That future, they believe, depends on responsible pet ownership, widespread sterilisation, adoption instead of abandonment and stronger community awareness. Until then, volunteers know there will always be another injured animal needing treatment, another abandoned pet searching for food, and another emergency requiring immediate action. However, they hope success will one day be measured not by the number of rescues they carry out or the amount of food they distribute, but by healthier community cat populations, fewer unwanted litters, and a society where prevention has replaced crisis as the foundation of animal welfare.

Advanced cooling technologies are being used across the country to transform outdoor public spaces, souqs, and pedestrian districts into destinations that remain accessible and attractive during the country’s intensely hot summer months. According to a report by Qatar TV, the emerging network of outdoor cooling systems is reshaping how residents and visitors experience public areas while supporting retail activity, tourism, and the broader development of climate-resilient urban environments. The initiative combines underground cooling networks with specialised outdoor air-conditioning engineering to create more comfortable microclimates in open-air areas. According to officials from the Qatar General Electricity and Water Corporation (Kahramaa), selected locations can reach outdoor temperatures in the range of about 22°C to 30°C, allowing people to walk, shop, and spend time outdoors even during periods when ambient temperatures can approach or exceed 45°C. The hot summer months often extend from June to September, with temperatures reaching 45°C or higher, while summer humidity can reach 40-60% at times. Such conditions have traditionally made prolonged outdoor activity difficult during the daytime and contributed to the concentration of tourism and retail activity in air-conditioned indoor venues. However, outdoor cooling represents a shift from simply providing enclosed air-conditioned environments towards creating more usable public spaces. Such cooling systems have been deployed or incorporated into several prominent developments and destinations, including Lusail Boulevard, Lafayette Street, Msheireb Downtown Doha, Al Hazm Mall, West Walk, Gewan Island, Souq Waqif, and several parks, including Al Gharaffa, Umm Al Seneem, and Rawdat Al Hamama. Eng Jamal Yousef al-Derbasti, director of the District Cooling Department at Qatar General Electricity and Water Corporation (Kahramaa), stressed that at Kahramaa decisions where to introduce cooling infrastructure are based on technical studies and established criteria, including cooling density and population density. The approach is intended to ensure that investment in cooling networks is directed towards locations where they can generate the greatest social and economic benefit. The technology is closely linked to Qatar’s broader adoption of district cooling. Unlike conventional individual air-conditioning systems, district cooling uses central plants to produce chilled water, which is distributed through underground insulated pipelines to connected buildings and facilities. Kahramaa says district cooling can reduce power demand by around 30% to 40% compared with conventional cooling technologies, while also reducing the infrastructure required for electricity generation and distribution. This efficiency is particularly important for Qatar, where cooling accounts for a major share of energy demand due to the country’s prolonged hot season. Centralised cooling also allows operators to optimise plant performance and load management, while potentially reducing greenhouse gas emissions, refrigerant leakage, and noise associated with numerous individual cooling units. Kahramaa identifies improved reliability, lower energy consumption, reduced peak power requirements and enhanced user experience among the principal benefits of district cooling. Meanwhile, Eng Hamad Bawazir, head of the District Cooling Services Planning Section at Kahramaa, highlighted the performance of Qatar’s cooling infrastructure against international efficiency benchmarks. He pointed out that international standards generally target an efficiency level no more than 1 point below the relevant performance measure. At the same time, some Qatari plants have recorded levels of about 0.9, with longer-term objectives of reaching 0.8 and 0.7. Accordingly, for businesses operating in outdoor commercial areas, comfortable public spaces can increase the time consumers spend walking between shops, restaurants, and attractions. Retailers and traders at Souq Waqif have reported that outdoor cooling has contributed to stronger visitor flows and helped reduce the seasonal slowdown that traditionally affected outdoor commerce during Qatar’s hottest months. Visitors have similarly described the availability of cooled outdoor areas as making summer walking and sightseeing more practical and comfortable. The effect is particularly significant for destinations such as Souq Waqif and Msheireb Downtown, where the pedestrian experience itself forms an important part of the attraction. In the meantime, Qatar has already developed substantial expertise in district cooling as part of its modern urban infrastructure. The technology has been applied not only to commercial and residential developments but also to major public facilities. In 2023, Kahramaa reported that Hamad Medical Corporation had adopted district cooling at its facilities, with the West Energy Centre currently providing a cooling capacity of 12,500 tonnes and a planned capacity of 20,000 tonnes. What began as a solution for sporting venues is now finding applications in everyday urban life.

Qatar Charity (QC) has distributed food baskets to vulnerable families in Tanzania’s Pwani Region, providing essential food assistance to 1,127 people as part of its continued humanitarian efforts to support communities facing difficult living conditions. Implemented by the QC’s office in Tanzania, the project provided 161 food baskets to families identified as being among the most in need. The assistance was designed to help households meet essential food requirements while easing some of the financial pressures affecting low-income families, orphans, and other vulnerable groups. Amjad al-Tahhan, the director of the Qatar Charity office in Tanzania, said the food assistance provided in Pwani forms part of the QC’s broader humanitarian efforts to stand alongside vulnerable communities and respond to their most pressing needs. “Meeting the needs of vulnerable people cannot be limited to a single project or temporary intervention,” he said, emphasising that such initiatives form part of a broader and sustained humanitarian approach aimed at supporting communities according to their priorities and needs.**media[477972]**Al-Tahhan noted that Pwani is among the areas experiencing the effects of climate change-related challenges, which have placed additional pressure on people’s livelihoods and living conditions. The food distribution project, he added, therefore represents one of Qatar Charity’s efforts to help alleviate these pressures and provide timely support to affected families. Al-Tahhan said that the initiative is not intended as a one-off intervention, but rather as part of Qatar Charity’s ongoing humanitarian engagement in support of vulnerable communities, guided by needs identified through field assessments. The food baskets contained a range of staple items commonly required by families for their daily nutritional needs. By providing these essential supplies, the project helped families cover part of their immediate food needs and reduce household expenditure on basic commodities. The initiative was implemented through close co-ordination with the local community, helping ensure that assistance reached those most in need. Beyond addressing immediate food needs, the intervention helped ease household financial pressures and promoted solidarity, compassion, and social responsibility. Beneficiary families expressed their appreciation to Qatar Charity and its donors for the assistance, noting that the food baskets provided meaningful support at a time when meeting basic household needs remains a significant challenge.