More UAE schools take part in environment competition

The annual Environment Competition for public and private schools and universities organised by the Environment Agency - Abu Dhabi (EAD) has got significantly bigger, with 14 times more entries than when it first started 13 years ago.

The inaugural competition back in 2000-2001 had 47 schools register with 247 entries, while this academic year there are 646 schools and universities registered with 2,087 projects submitted.

One of the entries submitted for the annual Environment Competition organised by the EAD. — Supplied photo

Nearly half of these schools and universities are from other emirates, as the competition spread nationwide this year — 97 schools from Dubai, 69 from Sharjah, 35 from Ajman, 26 from Fujairah, 18 from Umm Al Quwain, 40 from Ras Al Khaimah and 361 educational institutions from Abu Dhabi emirate.

“The growing popularity of the competition has transformed it into a unique platform that enables students to creatively express themselves about the major environmental challenges facing the UAE and the world,” said Fozeya Ibrahim Al Mahmoud, director of Environmental Outreach at EAD.

The competition’s theme this year, Think. Eat. Save. has been inspired by the theme set by the United Nations Environment Programme for World Environment Day.

It encourages people to reduce their ‘foodprint’. Food wastage not only has social and economic impacts, but an environmental impact, too, as it is associated directly with loss of biodiversity, water and energy. Food wastage is also considered a primary source of landfill gas and one of the main contributing factors to climate change.

Even worse, in the UAE, food waste increases the risk to the environment because most of what we consume is imported. This means that any waste of food contributes directly to the increase of an already soaring energy and water environmental footprint.

“In 2011, organic waste formed about 39 per cent of municipal waste in Abu Dhabi, and according to the Centre of Waste Management - Abu Dhabi, most of the organic waste from the city is food waste,” pointed out Al Mahmoud.

“Moreover, according to waste audits carried out by the students themselves, as part of our Sustainable Schools Initiative, food waste in Abu Dhabi constitutes almost 10 per cent of total school waste. While these schools have made great efforts to reduce their food waste over the past four years, the competition is designed to engage a greater number of schools that have yet to take action, she added.

EAD will be announcing the annual Environment Competition winners in May.

silvia@khaleejtimes.com