منتديات أفـــاق دبـــي الثقافيـــة - Recyclers to get trees planted in their names

Recyclers to get trees planted in their names

Campaign seeks to promote biodiversity

Cant See Links

By Emmanuelle Landais, Staff Reporter Published: 00:00 March 28, 2010
The My Tree in Dubai campaign strongly encourages the planting of indigenous trees and trees that are appropriate to the local environment. Image Credit: Gulf News archive Dubai:A new campaign has been launched to encourage residents to recycle paper and have a tree planted in their name in return.

Trees play a key role in the biodiversity of the planet, helping in the production of oxygen, and positively influence potable water supplies while helping restore soil fertility and ensuring a stable climate.

Through social networking site Facebook, the Emirates Environment Group (EEG), in partnership with Wunderman Dubai, an advertising agency, launched the My Tree in Dubai campaign to reward avid recyclers.

The public has been urged to join EEG's Recycling Campaign on Cant See Links and start recycling. There are only 200 trees to be given out to people who manage to recycle at least 60kg of paper in one month.

All the trees which will be planted will contribute to The Plant for the Planet: Billion Tree Campaign — a tree planting initiative started by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

The initiative aims to preside over the planting of 12 billion trees worldwide.

Indigenous types

The campaign strongly encourages the planting of indigenous trees and trees that are appropriate to the local environment.

The influence of trees in people's lives is widespread as they provide vital ecosystem services which human beings have come to depend on.

The billions of trees planted through the collective efforts of participants of the Billion Tree Campaign will contribute to biodiversity across the planet.

As part of the My tree in Dubai campaign, Facebook users can download an application that monitors how much paper they recycle. So far 28 trees have been planted and a total of 2,805kg of paper have been collected for recycling.

This campaign ends on April 20. To give people an opportunity to plant their own trees, a tree planting day will be organised on April 24, the Regional Environment Day, with the support of Dubai Municipality.

Under the initiative, trees will be planted in a public park in Dubai. The trees will be named after people who recycle at least 60kg of paper.

"For the first time, EEG is giving people a chance to recycle their paper into trees and see the results for themselves," Habiba Al Marashi, EEG chairperson, said in a press statement recently.

Cant See Links
Cant See Links