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Volunteers from government departments, 50 private entities, 24 schools and 163 families from all over the UAE took part in the tree-planting drive in Sidr nature reserve. Image Credit: Supplied

Ras Al Khaimah: Volunteers planted 1,000 indigenous Sidra trees in Sidr nature reserve in Al Minei area under the annual ‘For Our Emirates We Plant’ campaign on Tuesday.

The trees, on reaching maturity in five to seven years, will help mitigate six tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions annually, said campaign organiser Emirates Environmental Group (EEG).

The event was supported by the participation of Shaikh Salem Bin Sultan Bin Saqr Al Qasimi, member of the Executive Council of the Government of Ras Al Khaimah and Chairman of the Department of Civil Aviation.

During the event, volunteers from government departments, 50 private entities, 24 schools and 163 families from all over the UAE took part. The campaign was held under the annual ‘Clean Up UAE Campaign’ of EEG.

Since 2007, EEG has managed to plant over 2,096,802 indigenous trees in the UAE, resulting in the mitigation of 12,364 tonnes of carbon dioxide, it said.

Habiba Al Mar’ashi, chairperson of EEG, said: “The movement towards a deeper commitment to environmental protection through planting new trees and taking care of the existing ones is gaining great interest across the UAE.”

In his opening speech, Shaikh Salem said: “The trees planted in this Sidr nature reserve will help save more than one billion bees; this local UAE initiative is for the benefit of local and global causes. We thank EEG for its support and its perseverance to engage the different sectors of society together for a better environment. I hope all of you will be back again next year to once again plant trees and be part of the beautification and greening of this nation.”

EEG has combined its recycling programmes with tree planting and continues to encourage participants to be engaged in both these environmental platforms.

The participants got to choose the names under which the trees were planted and accordingly EEG prepared placards which were placed in front of every tree that was planted.