DUBAI: Marking the culmination of the “Year of Sustainability” in 2023, the Emirates Environmental Group (EEG) has hosted its annual “For Our Emirates We Plant” campaign on the symbolic date of 23.12.23. This year’s event unfolded at the pristine Al Naseem Reserve in Al Manama, Ajman.

The campaign was conducted in partnership with the Ajman Municipality and witnessed the participation of nearly 2,000 people from the academic sector, the corporate sector, the government entities and the society at large. They collectively planted 2,121 native saplings of Ghaf, Samar and Sidr trees, promoting the biodiversity of the reserve and enhancing its resilience.

Habiba Al Mar’ashi, Co-founder and Chairperson of EEG thanked Ajman Municipality for their support and said, ‘These urban afforestation programmes in addition to providing a habitat for the local wildlife to thrive, also act as a natural carbon sink; which effectively contribute to the mitigation of carbon emissions in the country and help accelerate the progr
ess towards achieving UN Sustainable Development Goals. This impactful programme is the collective effort by all sectors of the society and all entities who have gathered here today.’

She continued, ‘Since the inception of this campaign, EEG has planted a total of 2,125,604 trees across the UAE including the ones going to be planted today. These trees are sequestering more than 12,534.05 MT of CO2 emissions annually which is equivalent to removing 2,671 cars off the road for one year. This year, a total of 11,288 trees have been planted in the UAE and next year, we will aim to plant more.

This year, a total of 161 companies, 79 schools, and 184 families joined and planted trees under their names.
Source: Emirates News Agency