Emirates Environmental Group Organizes Its Annual 'For Our Emirates We Plant' Campaign

On the special date of 17.12.17, the Emirates Environmental Group (EEG) organised its annual “For Our Emirates We Plant” Campaign in association with the Dibba Alhisn Municipality in three locations at the beautiful city of Dibba Alhisn. During the event, eco-friendly residents from all sectors of the society; public and private institutions, academic institutions and families – came from the different Emirates  to carry out the tree planting and planted 510 indigenous trees of Ghaf, Sidra, Samar and Neem. These trees on maturity in 5-7 years will help mitigate 3 metric tonnes of CO₂ emissions annually.

Emirates Environmental Group continues its legacy of creating sustainable green spaces in the UAE, under the umbrella of the Campaign that kicked off in 2007. Through the active participation of a vast number of people, companies and schools, EEG has managed to plant over 2,095,652 indigenous trees in the UAE and the neighboring countries leading to the accumulative CO₂ mitigation of 12,357 MT

The continuous initiative has influenced a large number of people and organisations to collect and deposit paper, plastic, mobile phones, toners, aluminum cans and glass for recycling. As a result of their efforts and commitment, the participants are awarded with the opportunity to plant indigenous trees under their names at this annual event. 

Mrs. Habiba Al Mar’ashi, Chairperson of EEG said “the movement towards a deeper commitment to environmental protection through planting new trees and taking care of the existing ones is slowly gaining interest across the world. Talking about the Sustainable Development Goals, she added that at the global level, trees and forests are closely linked with weather patterns and also the maintenance of a crucial balance in nature. Hence, the 'task of environment protection is a universal responsibility for all of us”. Through this activity we are working diligently towards achieving the targeted SDG’s ensuring the conservation and safeguarding of the valuable resources”. 

Emirates Environmental Group would like to thank Dibba Alhisn City Municipality, for professionally preparing the three sites and Arabian Construction Company for providing other logistical support.

EEG has uniquely combined its recycling programmes with tree planting and continues to encourage participants to be engaged in both these pro environmental platforms. This event brought the curtains down on the three of the most important annual programs of EEG for the year 2017. These were the “Your Can for a Tree”, the “Neighborhood Recycling” and the “One Root One Communi-Tree”.

The “Your Can for a Tree” project ran from April till June 2017, it included the collection of specified number of Aluminium Cans within designated time period and in return, participants got to plant trees under their name. Under this project, 2,699 kg of Aluminum Cans was collected in 2017.

The “Neighborhood Recycling” Project is a platform for student members to indulge in recycling activities primarily during the summer months (June – September). It gives students a meaningful mission during the summer vacation months and helps drive up their eco-awareness. This year, 141 students participated in the campaign and reached out to their neighborhoods in a bid to increase awareness about the importance of environmental preservation.

The “One Root One Communi-Tree” Project is an initiative that brought together all sections of the community – public and private sectors, academic institutions and families from all over the UAE – during the months of July – November 2017 to promote the values of recycling. The participants in this drive were honoured by EEG by inviting them to join this prestigious event.

Mrs. Almar’ashi further said “We believe that each of us has a vital role in this journey – everyone counts!  Every bit, every waste that you send for recycling makes a difference. I am delighted to say that through this year’s campaigns, EEG has been able to collect 580,757 kg of paper; 2,470 pcs of mobile phones; 13,523 kg of plastic, 16,768 kg of glass; 2,570 pieces of toners and 5,297 kg of Aluminum Cans. These collections have already saved 11,901 trees, 2,579 m3 of landfill space and mitigated 2,355 metric ton of CO2. This is all of your effort, hard work and true dedication towards making a change and I thank each and every one of you for your efforts”. 

The participants get to choose the names under which the trees are to be planted and accordingly EEG prepares placards which are placed in front of every tree that is planted by the participating organisations, academic institutions and families. This unique benefit, of having a tree planted under one’s own name or a name of their choice goes a long way in showing EEG’s appreciation and respect to the participants and thanking them for their enthusiasm and commitment throughout the year in EEG’s diverse recycling campaigns. Further, a hands-on activity enabled the participants to understand the importance of trees and lasting benefit to the environment and to their health and instilled in them the sense of responsibility and ownership. EEG is eager to continue this momentum into its various campaigns planned for 2018 and endeavors to create even more green spaces through this unique, satisfying programme.