The UAE is on track to becoming one of the top league models in the application of sustainable practices across the major areas of economy, Habiba Al Marashi the Chairperson of
Emirates Environmental Group (EEG), has said.
Speaking to Alrroya.com ahead of the
World Future Energy Summit (WFES), which takes place in Abu Dhabi from January 16-19, Habiba, who is also a board member of United Nations Global Compact, said green practices encapsulate the entire process that leads to a sustainable future, “from ensuring clean energy supplies, to efficient management of power, water and fuel for transportation, the key issues that aim at conserving and preserving the environment.”
The UAE has been keen on becoming a low carbon economy and is currently implementing projects aimed at diversifying from oil and hydrocarbon products, by adopting other traditional economic models.
According to the summit organisers, delegates from more than 140 countries are expected to attend the fifth edition of the World Future Energy event, where issues of environment, energy efficiency and sustainability will be top of the agenda.
“It’s good to note that the government has set the framework in promoting general environmental awareness and a lot of organisations have been formed to tackle various environmental issues,” said Habiba.
“Private companies are also now more willing to make financial contributions not because they want to gain publicity but because they’ve understood that it is wise to invest in the environment to ensure economic sustainability,” the executive added.
Campaign to promote cleaner environment
A UAE national, Habiba has been instrumental in drawing up EEG’s framework of operations and management systems, which have seen the company grow from a small voluntary organisation to a large network both locally and globally.
EEG was the world’s first environmental NGO to be accredited with the ISO 14001 certification and is the only civil society organisation in the Gulf region accredited by the
United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)and (United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification) UNCCD.
The EEG has upped its aggressive environmental campaigns to push forward good eco-practices that promote a cleaner and healthier environment, and Habiba says ‘green thinking’ is fast catching up among the residents of the UAE – both the nationals and expats alike, “as people are taking a more active role in protecting the environment.”
“Just last month when we conducted our 10th ‘Clean up UAE’ exercise, more than 27,000 volunteers joined in our campaign. We’ve exceeded our target of 25,000 participants and topped our record of 20,000 set in December 2010,” she said.
This week, the group launched a tree planting programme that aims at instilling a sense of environmental awareness and responsibility among school children in the country.
Habiba reveals that partnership agreements with various private companies and government agencies has enabled her firm to successfully steer a project that has so far seen more than 2,091,066 indigenous trees planted in the UAE and in some neighbouring countries, since 2007.
“One of our objectives is to instill environmental awareness and responsibility among our students,” she said, while urging the UAE education authorities to incorporate eco-studies in schools syllabus, in order “to improve students’ understanding of the environment and its importance in their lives.”
“Care for the environment should really be an intrinsic part of our educational system, and this must be pursued from the preschool or early education to the university and post graduate level.”
“Schools must introduce holistic approach in environmental education. Even teaching math, language, music, or religion can be infused with environmental principles. We would like to see young kids become eco-guardians who would even remind their parents about day-to-day and simple ways to protect the environment.”
Schools urged to pursue environmental science
Habiba also said she would like to see the youth pursue environmental science, conducting research, working as scientists, desert ecologists, marine biologists, conservationists, ‘green’ engineers and architects, among others, “to minimise our carbon footprint, combat desertification, ensure water viability, and come up with viable and sustainable energy source.”
“Knowledge and theories are useless if not put into concrete actions and the most effective way to teach our children proper care for the environment is by showing it to them and living by example. We can start by proper waste disposal in our house, schools and offices; conservation of water and electricity; reduction of food waste; re-use of recyclable materials, and other practical steps that can be easily done and measured.”
“It is also important to instruct our youth to replicate among themselves the spirit of environmentalism so they will understand that collective action is the key to environmental protection. We should also develop more environmental platforms to build the capacity of our youth and hear what they have to say for our environment,” she added.
Every year the EEG conducts inter-school and inter-collegiate environmental public speaking competitions where young adults in the UAE as well as from other countries in GCC region share their knowledge on how to effect positive environmental change.
Habiba however, expressed worry about how critical issues regarding the environment have been politicised by some governments, saying this only served to exacerbate the risks of the global climate change.
“If we look at it on a global scale, there is really a wide gap between environmental degradation and environmental education. We’ve witnessed catastrophes around the world becoming more frequent and virulent which are strident wake-up calls and can be attributed to climate change.”
UAE one of world’s top carbon polluters
While admitting the UAE is one of the highest culprits when it comes to carbon footprints, Habiba hailed the government for its continuous effort to address environment concerns, saying the country has instituted the best practices in sustainable energy and real estate sectors.
“The country’s capital, Abu Dhabi, was the first in the Arab world to roll out a specialised green building rating system called Estidama (meaning sustainable). Dubai too has issued new guidelines across the various sectors to implement and regulate green policies,” she said.
“However, so many things need to be done in order to establish long-term solutions to wide-ranging environmental concerns. We agree that eco-studies must be inculcated in early education syllabus to make the culture of environmental awareness become innate to our future generations,” she added.
The EEG has been in the forefront of environmental action for the past two decades and is considered UAE’s oldest environmental organisation. Habiba says educational programmes have always been the company’s backbone and “we can honestly say that we are witnessing now the fruits of our hard labour by looking at the sheer number of students participating in our activities, especially in clean-up exercises.”
“We have a lot of data to quantify the amount of waste we’ve collected and recycled, the percentage of carbon dioxide we’ve reduced, but what is more important to us is the formation of culture of environmental awareness,” the executive gushed.
It has not been smooth sailing for the company as it has also encountered challenges in its quest to push its eco-agendas forward, one of them being, financial constraint.
“There are so many challenges that have come our way but these did not deter us from moving forward,” Habiba said, adding, “As a professional working group devoted to protecting the environment through means of education, action programmes and community involvement, we have also strongly felt the effects of economic downturn but we’ve relied on our members and engaged communities in the grassroots level to help us keep our heads above the water.”
A survey released late last year showed that 76 per cent of UAE residents are sharing responsibility for taking care of the environment, up from only 35 per cent in 2009.
“Judging from these figures we can glean that the level of environment awareness has dramatically increased,” Habiba said.
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