The World Environment Day (WED) celebrations in Qatar came to a close yesterday with a message to save resources for future generations.
“We have to eat to live but at the same time save our resources to make others live as well. We cannot consume all the resources and expect the world to maintain itself for the coming generation,” said Dr Nasreen Al Hashmi, Member, Board of Directors, Friends of Environment Centre (FEC) on the theme of this year’s WED celebration which is “Think.Eat.Save”.
Dr Al Hasmi was addressing hundreds in attendance at the conclusion of weeks-long WED celebration at the Al Rayyan Theatre in Souq Waqif.
“God has gifted us with the ability to think and for that we are dignified; and at the same time he gifted us with Earth and everything on it to give us the reason for living and the means for living. We are not here just to eat; we are here to think, learn, develop, achieve and create civilizations and for that we are to use our resources wisely,” she added.
Abeer Al Kalla, Head of PR and Communication, al khaliji, one of the sponsors of the event, was of the same view saying: “We as a responsible bank realize that food waste is a big problem which has a negative humanitarian, environmental and financial implication but with a few changes in our habits we can significantly shift this paradigm.”
She lauded how the celebration has grown through the years in terms of participation from schools, colleges and the larger community.
This year’s celebration saw the participation of more than 5,000 families and over 3,000 contestants in the competitions.
With over 3,000 entries, the painting competition organised by International Academy for Intercultural Development (IAID) and FEC was the most popular and one of the biggest in Qatar.
The contest witnessed participants from six different categories. The top three winners and 15 runners up for each category were honoured during yesterday’s event.
First prize winners in the six categories were Niroopama Ajit (Category A), Vidja Vijayan (B), Sneha Suhasrao Patil (C), Aby Abraham (D), J M Soorya Narayan (E) and Mahesh Kumar (F).
New this year is the eco-fashion design contest which saw close to 200 entries with more than 500 students joining the unique activity. Models of the winning designs displayed the dresses made out of recycled materials.
The top three winners of the eco-fashion design contest included AIS Designers, Eco-Friends and PECians, respectively. The winners walked home with cash prizes, Apple iPad’s from Ooredoo, Faber-Castell Premium products, gift vouchers, certificates and trophies, among others.
“While the contests and other activities associated with WED were about having fun, they aimed to convey a serious message. Through WED we wanted to teach children about the importance of environmental care and conservation in fun and creative ways to drive this message back home,” said Katia Aboud Saba, Head of PR, Oryx GTL, one of the sponsors of the event.
Other partners of this year’s WED included Ooredoo, Faber-Castell, I LoveQatar.net, Virginia Commonwealth University in Qatar, Al Rayyan Theatre, The Ritz Carlton Doha and Renaissance Doha City Center Hotel.
Aside from honouring the winners, yesterday’s event also involved musical and dance performances by students of IAID.
World Environment Day, which is an initiative of United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), is being celebrated around the world on June 5, but activities in Qatar started as early as May 17.
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