His Excellency Dr Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi plants seedlings with students from GEMS World Academy to set a green example.

The Ministry of Climate Change and Environment (MOCCAE) partnered with GEMS Education to support its Special Olympics World Games Abu Dhabi 2019 Carbon Offset Initiative through cultivating local plants at some of the group’s schools.

On the final day of the Special Olympics, His Excellency Dr Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi, Minister of Climate Change and Environment, visited GEMS World Academy (GWA) to plant the seedlings of local plants alongside over 50 students of the school.

The event aimed to educate the children about the harmful impact of carbon emissions on the environment and the ways of offsetting them. His Excellency Dr Al Zeyoudi says: “It is always a pleasure to engage youngsters in our environmental efforts. We have planted around 2,000 seedlings of indigenous flora across GEMS schools alone, as part of the Ministry’s initiative to offset the carbon emissions from the Special Olympics that conclude today in Abu Dhabi.”

Ministry officials showed the participants the percentage of carbon emissions the morning’s planting activity succeeded in offsetting. To raise public awareness of local plant species and ways to care for them, MOCCAE launched the Gheras app and microsite that offer information on indigenous plant species as well as the contacts of the 54 nurseries across the UAE that supply their seeds and saplings. The initiative seeks to step up community participation in the government’s drive to preserve local biodiversity and to protect and restore the natural habitats of indigenous flora.