(MENAFN- Emirates News Agency (WAM))
DUBAI, 7th January, 2018 (WAM) -- The employees of the Ministry of Climate Change and Environment, MOCCAE, have 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, as declared by President His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
The volunteers participated in organising the ministry's various events including the Summer Environment Camps, Earth Hour and Shark Week, as well as the nation-wide environmental activities of other public and private sector entities.
Dr. Thani bin Ahmed Al-Zeyoudi, Minister of Climate Change and Environment, and other top officials from the ministry, attended many of the events.
Taif Al Amiri, Director of the Government Communication Department at MOCCAE, said that the Environmental Volunteering initiative saw 617 employees of the ministry register 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 programmes that engage all segments of society. Through leveraging the spirit of volunteering, which is so strong in UAE society, as it seeks 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," he added.
"In partnership with Abu Dhabi International Airport, Dubai International Airport and City Centre Mirdif, we also participated in Earth Hour on 25th 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 broke from the traditional pattern of environmental campaigns that usually focus on cleaning up specific areas of the 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," Al Amiri continued.
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, which targeted visitors to the Dubai Mall.
WAM/Hazem Hussein/Nour Salman
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