UAE municipalities to join Dubai Car-Free Day … reports Asian Lite News.
Eng. Hussain Nasser Lootah, Director General of Dubai Municipality on Wednesday unveiled the Municipality’s plan this year to develop the activities of the 9th Car Free Day initiative with the participation of other municipalities of the country in the events so that it does not confine to the Emirate of Dubai and its benefits are expanded to other emirates, protecting the environment and reducing carbon footprint at the UAE level.
“Al Ain, Ajman and Ras Al Khaimah muncipalities will join us this year and the door is open to all municipalities of the UAE to participate in this initiative, as it is no more a local event and has become a role model for protecting the environment from carbon pollution that affects everyone,” said Lootah.
He said the popular environmental event will be organised on 4th February 2018 with huge participation from various government, semi-government departments and private organisations.
This came during a press conference at Dubai Municipality headquarters, which was also attended by Major General Obaid Muhair Bin Sorour, Deputy Director General of the General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs, Dubai and Ali Ibrahim, Deputy Director General of the Department of Economic Development, Dubai, assistants to the Director General of Dubai Municipality and directors of departments.
“Last year we had the participation of 2,444 individuals and nearly 200 organizations for this popular environmental initiative in the country. It is expected to witness an increased number of participants during this year, in addition to the presence of a number of dignitaries, including heads of government departments in the emirate, ensuring comprehensive government support for the initiative,” said Lootah.
“There will also be the participation of various sectors such as education, real estate, retail sector, hotels, banks as well as People of Determination as the Municipality has always been keen to integrate this important category in the various initiatives and events,” he said.
Lootah also stressed the unending quest of the Municipality to raise the profile of the city of Dubai globally in the field of eco-friendly cities by finding all sustainable and effective solutions to meet the various environmental challenges, most notably air pollution and increase in the carbon footprint resulting from vehicle emissions.
“Each vehicle, with a full tank fuel size of 15 gallons, emits nearly 140 kilograms of carbon dioxide into the air, thus the amount of total emissions annually would be about 4 tons and these emissions contribute towards global warming.” he said.
Lootah said the campaign will contribute to achieve the objectives of the emirate through the UAE National Agenda 2021 in the field of preservation of air quality and reducing carbon footprint. He said that the initiative will effectively contribute towards promoting the use of public transport instead of using personal vehicles to get to work sites.
“Car- Free Day is the first initiative of its kind and is a confirmation of the commitment of the city of Dubai as regards international environment agreements related to climate change that contribute to the reduction of emissions of gases that cause global warming” said Lootah.
“This initiative reflects the care of the government and the community to have the best practices aimed at finding sustainable solutions to the environmental issues witnessed by the emirates in general and the increase in carbon footprint caused by the road transport sector in particular,” he said.
Lootah pointed out that the initiative had an impact on reducing the carbon footprint and reducing the phenomenon of climate change. “Nearly 60,000 vehicles halted during the eighth Car-Free Day, which is equivalent to a reduction of about 174 tons of carbon emissions that may necessitate the cultivation of 1,218 trees to dispose it off. The number of vehicles stopped during the past year is 33% higher than the number of vehicles stopped during the initiative in 2016, estimated at 45,000 vehicles,” he said.
“It also reiterates the Dubai 2021 Plan and UAE’s vision 2021 and supports the objectives of Expo 2020. It also aims to promote the adoption of a culture of environmental protection and sustainability through its awareness-raising mission to develop community responsibility towards the environment and society and to achieve a healthy lifestyle,” he said.
Lootah appealed to all segments of the society to embrace the idea of the initiative and its goals either individually or through organisations as well as responding to the spirit of social responsibility towards environmental issues by limiting the use of personal vehicles to get to work or movement and encourage the use of other means of alternative and environment-friendly means of transport or by the car pooling as a group of individuals in one vehicle, noting that this contributes to the enhancement of environmental gains for future generations.