Mangroves in Uae

Mangroves along Corniche Road cleaned
Silvia Radan

6 November 2010
ABU DHABI - After one-and-a-half hour of hard work, the Easter mangroves along Abu Dhabi’s New Corniche Road were spotless. And they are going to remain clean at least for the next year.
An area popular with weekend picnic-goers, who often leave a lot of unwanted harmful plastic behind, but also an area polluted by all kinds of debris and trash due to the ongoing urban development, the Eastern mangroves are perhaps the best choice for Green Abu Dhabi’s first environmental project. Armed with plastic bags and some even with gloves, about 50 children and their parents came along on Friday afternoon to clean the area. “I like the mangroves,” declared 11-year-old Johnny, who was here with his parents.
“I once went on a kayak trip with my family through the mangroves and I know there is a lot of tiny fish that need clean water and sand to survive.
“I wish one day everybody (will) understand and take care of the mangroves.” A foundation just established this year by Suhail Jashanmal, Green Abu Dhabi hopes to create awareness for the environment and sustainable development and get communities to help the community.
“We want to get people to get involved, not to wait for the government to get involved,” said Ursula Winzel, who is helping Green Abu Dhabi with communication and marketing through her company Balcony 8s, where she is the director of communication.
The first project of Green Abu Dhabi was to get school children to paint tiles.
“We got free tiles from RAK Ceramics, which we sold to over 40 schools for Dh10 each. We raised Dh65,000, which we will donate to Emirates Wildlife Society,” Winzel told Khaleej Times.
The painted tiles, each with an environmental message, are now put together as a mural, which will eventually be displayed in a public building in Abu Dhabi.
A second project was an art exhibition, at the Emirates Heritage Club in Al Bateen Marina, which is going to end...