EAD, Borouge Honour Students For Contribution To Sustainable Campus Initiative

ABU DHABI, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News / WAM - 21st Nov, 2018) Celebrating the success of the Sustainable Campus Initiative, SCI, the Environment Agency - Abu Dhabi, EAD, the largest environmental regulator in the Arabian Gulf, in partnership with Borouge, a leading petrochemical joint venture company established by ADNOC and Austrian-based Borealis that provides creative plastics solutions for a wide range of industries, today hosted a ceremony to reward the exemplary audits and sustainable action projects of participating colleges and universities.

An exhibition held alongside the ceremony under the theme "Power of Youth", showcased the projects of nine colleges and universities that participated in the academic year 2017-2018 of SCI, including UAE University, Abu Dhabi University, Zayed University, American University of Sharjah, American University of Ras Al Khaimah, New York University Abu Dhabi, Manipal academy of Higher Education, Dubai, Higher Colleges of Technology, Abu Dhabi, and the Green Youth Majlis, GYM, a platform for the students, by the students, facilitated by the EAD.

The ceremony was attended by Dr. Hassan Obaid Al Mheiri, Assistant Under-Secretary for Accreditation and Educational Services, Ministry of education - Higher Affairs; Abdulrahman Essa Al Ateek, Senior Vice President, Corporate Affairs, Borouge, and Ahmed Baharoon, Executive Director of Environmental Information, Science and Outreach Management at EAD, as well as directors, deans, students and coordinators from the participating colleges and universities.

As part of its efforts to promote the participation and empowerment of young people as leaders of change, EAD, in partnership with Borouge, launched the Sustainable Campus Initiative in 2014.

Dr. Al Mheiri said, "Our wise leadership strongly supports sustainability, due to its importance in protecting and sustaining the environment for generations to come and for a better life. Thus, all sectors should participate in enhancing environmental awareness in our society.

The environment is a social responsibility that requires our efforts to conserve it and find innovative solutions."

Ahmed Baharoon said "Empowering our youth is vital to achieving a sustainable future. Since its launch, SCI has helped build and strengthen students' leadership abilities to work on identifying solutions to environmental sustainability issues and has been the key to developing sustainable communities. We hope that through the continued participation of colleges and universities in this initiative, young people will continue to play a crucial part in Abu Dhabi's journey to achieving sustainability and realising the goals of the UAE Green Growth Strategy."

Abdulrahman Al Ateek said, "It is a pleasure to participate in recognising our university students, future leaders, who participate actively to make SCI a success, through enhancing sustainable development in the universities and evaluating its environmental impact. Borouge focusses on social participation, especially through youth, and encourages them to adopt best practices in environmental supervision and social responsibility."

In the 2017-2018 academic year, 16 colleges and universities from Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah and Ras Al Khaimah participated in the Sustainable Campus Initiative, conducting environmental audits and implementing sustainable projects on their campuses. Students also raised awareness on how to reduce air pollution and waste production while efficiently using the resources available on their campus.

As a productive and important component of SCI, the GYM, which currently has 153 members, meet to discuss the sustainability challenges facing the community and how to solve them.

The Sustainable Campus Initiative, along with a range of other programmes implemented by EAD, is supported by the Ministry of Education, Department of Energy, Abu Dhabi Waste Management Centre (Tadweer) and Department of Transport.