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Abu Dhabi to join World Environment Day activities

ABU DHABI - The Environment Agency — Abu Dhabi (EAD) will be marking World Environment Day 2010 today through a series of awareness activities on the theme “Many Species, One Planet, One Future”.

The Department of Municipal Affairs (DMA) will also celebrate the day by taking “Green Steps” towards creating a greener environment.

The Green Steps awareness campaign highlights what people can do to reduce their energy, paper and water usage, and is targeting everyone across the municipalities in the emirate.

The DMA will soon launch international building codes for the emirate, highlight the department’s commitment to delivering services that drive awareness on the critical environmental issues and make ‘green steps’ a
way of life.

“The DMA is working towards the emirate’s vision of achieving a sustainable living environment by setting global trends and standards, and we look to our new building codes framework to lay the foundation for people living in Abu Dhabi to enjoy climate-sensitive, durable, high performance ‘green’ buildings,” said Nasir Al Jesmi, Public Relations and Communications Director at the DMA.

The activities of EAD will focus on raising awareness on the incredible diversity of life in the UAE, since 2010 has also been declared International
Year of Biodiversity, a statement from EAD said.

Majid Al Mansouri, EAD secretary-general, said, “On World Environment Day 2010, we would like to remind the public how fragile our biodiversity is and that although biodiversity loss is a global issue, action at the local level is needed.

“We inherited a fascinating, beautiful and healthy world. However, today the race is on to protect what’s left of our world’s biodiversity.

We are in a race that is challenging us in our everyday lives to harmonise between progress, modernity, the fast pace of development and environmental protection.”

The EAD is also organising the Abu Dhabi Wildlife Photography Exhibition in Al Ain Wildlife Park and Resort till tomorrow. The exhibition includes 100 photographs of marine fauna
and flora of the UAE, including endangered species.

The exhibition will also be mounted later at Al Ma’moura Building, which includes EAD headquarters and a number of other prominent Abu Dhabi government entities.

The exhibition, which will be held from June 13 to 19 highlights some of the amazing wildlife that can be found in the diverse habitats of the UAE.

anwar@khaleejtimes.com