For Our Emirates We Plant

The main objectives of the Initiative are: • To follow the legacy of H.H. Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, late President of the UAE and one of the strongest environmentalists in the world; • To encourage all sectors of the society to take steps to combat desertification, climate change and global warming • To instil environmental ethics in the public’s mind and create a powerful association between tree planting and positive actions for sustainable development • To enable students to understand the benefits of trees and transform that understanding into a sense of responsibility • To divert waste from landfills • To implement habitual, long term recycling • To promote volunteerism, civic responsibility in the society and Corporate Social Responsibility among organisations In 2007, EEG participated in UNEP’s Million Tree Campaign and was hugely successful by planting and overseeing the planting of over 1.2 million indigenous trees in the UAE. This marked the culmination of the official affiliation with UNEP for the tree planting project that went above and beyond in fulfilling its responsibility to the campaign. The ‘Your Can For a Tree’ Campaign, which ran from April to July 2016, saw a participation of 70 entities who collected 8,270 kilograms of aluminium cans, which resulted in the mitigation of 124 MTCO2 emissions, saving 1,882 million BTU of energy and 201 m3 of landfill space. The Neighbourhood Recycling programme, which was launched in 2011, resulted in 2016 in the collection of 49,534 kilograms of paper, 743 kilograms of plastic, 466 kilograms of aluminium cans, 617 pieces of mobile phones and 679 pieces of toners, resulting in the mitigation of 200 MTCO2 emissions and saving 1,261 million BTU of energy, 199 m3 of landfill space and 2,383 gallons of gasoline. The ‘One Root One Communi-tree’, which was launched in 2010, collected in 2016 a total of 238,802 kilograms of paper, 9,580 kilograms of plastic, 4,503 kilograms of aluminium cans, 9,591 pieces of mobile phones and 694 pieces of toners, resulting in the mitigation of 1,007 MTCO2 emissions and saving 6,911 million BTU of energy, 1,267 m3 of landfill space and 33,519 gallons of gasoline. The planting for a greener future saw the planting of 200 indigenous saplings being plated in four government schools in the different Emirates in the UAE namely Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Ajman and Umm Al Quwain with a total of 2,200m2 of land being turned into beautifully lawned spaces for the students. In 2016, the Campaign witnessed the participation of 24 companies, 13 academic institutions and 126 families. The breakdown of the projects is as follows: • The ‘Your Can For a Tree’ Campaign, resulted in the planting of 40 trees • The Neighbourhood Recycling programme resulted in the planting of a total of 125 trees • The ‘One Root One Communi-tree’ resulted in the planting of a total of 291 trees • The ‘Planting for a Greener Future’ resulted in the planting of 200 trees. As the UAE is situated in the arid west continent desert belt of the Southeast region of the Arabian Peninsula, it is highly susceptible to various factors of an arid ecosystem such as water, soil, climate, vegetation, natural resources and biodiversity. Some of the gravest environmental challenges facing the UAE today are desertification, land degradation and the basic lack of fresh natural water sources. However, it has been established that tree planting is considered one of the most cost effective and environment friendly options to counter these issues. For EEG, planting trees and giving back to the environment is a way of showing appreciation to Mother Nature and involving the community in creating a positive impact. Thus, in 2016, the ‘For Our Emirates We Plant’ Campaign was successful in planting 662 indigenous trees in the UAE including 228 Ghaf trees, 234 Neem trees, 192 Sidra trees and 8 Date Palm trees. This type of sustainable land management and proper forestation method has great benefits for the environment, the economy and enhancing the habitat for the indigenous wildlife spaces to thrive. EEG has several plans in the pipeline to increase the impact of this Campaign. We would continue to invite private sector organisations and stakeholders to come on board through sponsorship and partnerships to further increase the sustainable green spaces in the UAE. We had initiated a couple of similar activities in schools in Bahrain and the Sultanate of Oman a few years back and we are confident that with the right partnership, we can also expand this wonderful campaign to other Arab countries that are in need to promote forestation, counter desertification and promote active sustainability.