Sustainable Development is one of the main pillars of the UAE's Vision 2021 agenda and this was also one of the underlying themes which we celebrated on the 43rd National Day. We wanted to show our solidarity with the vision of our leaders which is to  ensure sustainable development while at the same time conserving and preserving the environment, which would lead to a balance between the social and economic development.

Green Hope UAE firmly believes that young people need to play a pivotal role in contributing to the developmental dialogue in terms of sustainability. With this objective in mind, our youth members planted 43 saplings to commemorate a "green" National Day. Planting trees is one of the simplest ways of mitigating climate change and reducing the carbon footprint of our planet. This symbolic activity was a show of solidarity from us , young people , who are the future generations in building a "zero carbon" future .

Thereafter, a 70 strong contingent from Green Hope UAE , ranging in age from 8 years to 25 years, joined the parade at Downtown Dubai . We had a huge float with our logo and we marched with banners calling for civil society to adopt a sustainable lifestyle. We echoed the call to move to renewable energy and reduce wastage, so that our planet's finite resources are available for  generations to come.

The march was watched by thousands of people from all walks of life. It was very motivating for us to be able to reach out to such a large cross section of civil society with our message of sustainability. The challenges that lie ahead of us can only be surmounted if all sections of civil society work in harmony and events such as this are a step in that direction , for which the organisers need to be complimented.