Employees of the Ministry of Climate Change and Environment (MOCCAE) completed 4,000 volunteer hours under the Environmental Volunteering initiative, launched in early 2017 as part of the Ministry’s active contribution to the Year of Giving, declared by the UAE President His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
The volunteers participated in organizing the Ministry’s events, such as the Summer Environment Camps, Earth Hour and Shark Week, and in nation-wide environmental activities of other public and private sector entities. His Excellency Dr Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi, Minister of Climate Change and Environment, and other top officials from the Ministry attended most of the events.
Taif Al Amiri, Director of the Government Communication Department at MOCCAE, said: "Under the Environmental Volunteering initiative, launched by MOCCAE in line with the declaration of 2017 as the Year of Giving with volunteering as its second pillar, 617 employees of the Ministry registered 4,000 volunteer hours across 30 in-house and third-party activities. Apart from encouraging our own employees to volunteer, we are dedicated to developing volunteer programs that engage all segments of society. Through leveraging the spirit of volunteering that is so strong in the UAE society to achieve the humanitarian goals of the Year of Giving, we seek to promote this inherent social value and highlight its importance among the young generation.”
She added: “In partnership with Abu Dhabi International Airport, Dubai International Airport and City Centre Mirdif, we participated in the Earth Hour on 25 March by turning off the lights from 8pm to 9pm, resulting in substantial energy savings. With our Summer Environment Camps in July and August, we have broken the traditional pattern of environmental campaigns that usually focus on cleaning up specific areas of land or sea. Instead, our team of specialists educated children from six to 14 on the most pressing environmental issues and introduced them to the concepts of farming without soil as well as waste recycling. In addition, the camps held a series of environmental story-writing competitions for the attendees, with the best stories of the summer displayed for public viewing.”
Eighty-nine volunteers, including MOCCAE employees, dedicated 365 hours to running the summer camps. Another 93 employees of the Ministry contributed to the Shark Week campaign, launched in collaboration with Dubai Aquarium and Kidzania, that targeted visitors to The Dubai Mall.
In addition, MOCCAE volunteers supported a host of third-party activities, such as the My Clean Home campaign by Al Ain City Municipality, reading children’s environmental stories by Dubai Electricity and Water Authority, a waste-to-energy project by Emirates Environmental Group, the Eid Joy initiative by Sharjah Social Services Department, a sea turtle rehabilitation campaign by Jumeirah Group and an iftar meal project by Emirates Red Crescent.