World Oceans Day helps to focus the attention of the global fraternity on the importance of conserving our oceans as their well-being is critical to the survival of our planet. Protecting our oceans from degradation and pollution is vital not just for the present generation but for future generations as well . The beaches that line our oceans quite often are an indication of the litter that they contain as it gets washed ashore.

At the same time , the litter that we leave on our beaches finds its way into the oceans causing irreparable harm to its biodiversity. The two year theme for World Oceans Day 2013 and 2014 is "Together we have the power to protect the ocean!? . It basically urges civil society to join hands and work together to reduce litter on our shorelines and also to stop polluting these water bodies through other means.

To commemorate World Oceans Day , we at Green Hope UAE conducted a beach cleanup on Jumeirah beach under the guidance of Dubai Municipality. Under the blazing summer sun, our members clad in their distinctive green T shirts fanned out across this iconic beach with collection bags in their hands and scoured the sand for litter . The amount of litter , which varied from cigarette butts to bottles , cans , toys , broken skateboards , metal scraps , that we collected was indeed an eyeopener .

Despite the heat , we were happy to have contributed to cleaning up the beach which draws millions of tourists from across the globe. We were also greatly honoured to receive a certificate of appreciation from Dubai Municipality and we thank them effusively for giving us the opportunity of working with them.