Youth in Action - Biodiversity Conservationby | 30-11-2014 17:31 |
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       Mangroves are an important part of our fragile ecosystem and play a key role in maintaining our environment's biodiversity. Regretably, pollution and urban litter are causing the mangrove belts near our cities to choke and die. As civil society , it is our responsibility to protect these fragile ecosystems and with this objective in mind , we at Green Hope UAE embarked on a cleanup mission this Friday , 21st November. We chose the a mangrove belt off the eastern shoreline and 18 of us rose early and drove to the location. We kayaked from the mainland to the mangroves which were located just a few hundred meters off the coastline. We were shocked at the amount of litter that we found entangled amongst the roots of the mangroves. The litter that is carelessly thrown by residents into the water is washed by the tide into these mangroves which choke and eventually die. We spent the morning collecting the trash which ranged from Styrofoam of all shapes and sizes, plastics, metal cans and rusted parts. The bird life in these mangroves was a treat to our eyes and we wondered how many of these beautiful creatures had perished as result of litter ingestion. We loaded the rubbish into our kayaks and rowed back to the mainland with a promise to be back soon. It is very important for residents to understand the impact their littering has on their immediate environment and we do hope that with awareness , this trend will change for the better. The newspaper , 7Days, published our activity photo and this has enabled us to reach out to civil society with the message of biodiversity conservation.
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