Film on UAE boy to be screened at UN conference in Doha

Abu Dhabi:

The organisers of a UN conference which is being held in Doha believe that an anti-plastic bag campaign spearheaded by an Indian schoolboy in Abu Dhabi neighbourhoods will inspire global leaders.

A film on Abdul Mugeet, 11, who is known as “the paper bag boy” was screened at the opening ceremony on Tuesday of the 18th session of the Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change) and the 8th session of the Conference of the Parties serving as the Meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol.

The conference at the Qatar National Convention Centre in Doha, Qatar, which started on Monday, ends on December 7.

Abdul Mugeet, a sixth grader at Abu Dhabi Indian School, and his mother Andalip Mannan, said they were indebted to Gulf News for his exposure in the international arena as an environmental campaigner. “If Gulf News did not support his activities, he would have been confined to this Al Mina area [the Abu Dhabi neighborhood where he lives]. When he started his campaign to promote paper bags to replace plastic bags in early 2010, a Gulf News report drew the attention of many people to his campaign,” the mother said.

A letter from Fahd Bin Mohammad Al Attiyah, chairman of the organising sub –committee of the Doha conference, said it is a “great opportunity to inspire global leaders by featuring young Abdul Mugeet”.

The work by Abdul Mugeet in Abu Dhabi was highlighted by the conference team as a story that is truly inspiring and innovative and they decided to feature it in the opening ceremony’s film at the conference, according to Al Attiyah’s letter.

Abdul Mugeet is being featured in a bespoke film produced by Qatar to set the tone of the conference and to be presented at opening ceremony events. “These events will take a look at inspiring projects around the world that are leveraging cutting-edge science, innovation and everyday people to make a difference in critical ecosystems,” the organisers said.

About 17,000 delegates from 194 countries, including heads of states, will attend the Doha conference.

Abdul Mugeet said he was excited to receive the team of six crew who came last week from London, Germany, Qatar and the UK to shoot the film on him.

“Everybody in the neighbourhood and at the school were also happy about seeing the crew filming me. They all were asking about my campaign,” he said.

Fame and recognition are nothing new to the “paper bag boy”. He received the prestigious Abu Dhabi Award from Shaikh Mohammad Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, for his contribution to environmental conservation in January 2012. He has attended 60 internationals workshops in the past two years.

The Tunza International Children and Youth Conference on Environment, organised by the United Nations Environment Programme (Unep) in collaboration with the Government of Indonesia in September 2011 was one among them.

He said he has made about 4,750 paper bags so far, mostly of Gulf News pages. Earlier he had said, when he first started distributing paper bags in the neighbourhood, the presence of a Gulf News photographer helped him communicate the cause of the campaign to the people.