The Environment Agency – Abu Dhabi (EAD) along with BP, sponsor of the Sustainable Schools Initiative (SSI), organised a clean-up campaign yesterday at Al Wathba Wetland Reserve for the initiative’s participating students. The campaign was planned as a tribute to the Arab Environment Day (14 October) which was first instituted in 1986, by a meeting of Arab Ministers responsible for the environment, in Tunisia. This year’s slogan and emphasis revolved around ‘Cleanliness: A Collective Responsibility’.

 

The clean-up saw the participation of 161 Sustainable Schools Initiative (SSI) students and more than 35 governmental and private organisations in Abu Dhabi, where they cleared the area from marine debris and litter caused by neighbouring residents. The two hours clean-up campaign resulted in removing 483 kg of waste which included mostly of plastic and wood waste, metal and glass and paper.

 

Ahead of the clean-up, the students were given a brief and were provided with information on the roles and responsibility of the campaign and learned more about the different measurement tools used in collecting data. Also gloves, bags and water were also distributed.

 

Kicking off the campaign, Ahmed Baharoon, Executive Director of the Environmental Science, Information and Outreach Sector at EAD, addressed the participants and highlighted the importance of changing our behaviour and our attitudes to waste within Abu Dhabi’s community.

 

The Sustainable Schools Initiative encourages students to not only reduce their ecological footprint but also to increase their 'ecological handprint', by participating in the different activities organised by EAD and other environmental related organisations, that lead towards achieving sustainability.