Clean Up Arabia

Clean Up Arabia 2010

The main event for Clean Up Arabia 2010 was held on the 6th of November 2010 at Le Méridien Al Aqah in Fujairah – Clean up Arabia’s yearly and faithful host venue.

Registration started at 8:30am with an impressive turnout of around 300 clean up volunteers! EDA members, friends and families, EDA partners and sponsors gathered on the Méridien lawn eager to begin the dive and beach clean ups. Clean up gloves, bags and nets were handed out and everyone set off toward their designated tasks.

After everyones hard work, lunch was served around midday. Everyone was able to relax and take the time to socialise and soak up the vibrant atmosphere.

All the rubbish brought in was piled in a specified area to the side of the beach for easy disposal collection at the end of the day and then everyone handed in their ICC cards which were filled out by the clean up groups with the number of each item collected. The information recorded was summarised and successfully sent to the Ocean Conservancy to be added to their annual international report.

In the afternoon, the beach volleyball tournament teams formed into groups, and the games began. We would like to thank our sponsors, partners, members and friends and families who became new EDA members, for making this year’s Clean up Arabia 2010 another successful event.

Qatar, Bahrain, Oman and the UAE have all had a clean up this year and we are all grateful for the willingness, commitment and coordination efforts that were put in to make them all happen. This campaign has had another fabulous success and you have all made a difference again this year and we thank you for it. We look forward to seeing you at Clean Up Arabia 2011 next year with the continued enthusiasm to keep our Arabia clean.

Abu Dhabi, November 14, 2010: Out of the 200 bags of waste collected at the Clean Up Arabia Abu Dhabi event held on Friday 5th November, a break-down of the waste collected has been established.

The results are quite compelling: 2,160 beverage cans, 804 plastic bottles, 486 cigarette filters, 359 plastic bags, 319 pieces of kitchenware, 235 glass bottles, 221 food wrappers, 160 pull tabs, 125 paper bags, and 71 ropes were collected.

Marine debris can be harmful to marine life aswell as swimmers and divers’ health and safety. It also poses a hazardous risk to boats and leisure crafts. On a greater scale, marine debris negatively impacts upon the local economy and can cause a loss in revenue from the tourism and fisheries industry.

The clean up was organized by Emirates Diving Association (EDA), with the support of the Environment Agency – Abu Dhabi (EAD) and other partners. Volunteer divers and residents found 840 kilograms of marine debris waste at the Mina Port near the Fishermen’s Wharf.

The Environment Agency – Abu Dhabi (EAD) urges the public to assist in protecting the marine environment by always disposing of trash in designated locations, and clean up after outdoor excursions. EAD also encourages members of the community to actively and regularly participate in clean up campaigns.

Clean Up Arabia 2009

On Saturday the 21st of November 2009, EDA volunteers gathered in Dibba at Le Meridien Al Aqah to participate in the 14th annual Clean Up Arabia campaign.

In Abu Dhabi, the Clean Up was supported under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Hazza Bin Hamdan Al Nahyan from the 15th – 21st November for a busy week of activities to keep the shorelines clean and beautiful!

Clean Up Arabia 2008

EDA has been organizing the Clean up Arabia campaign annually since 1995 as a regional event. Clean Up Arabia is part of the Clean Up the World program that is promoted and managed by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) (http://www.cleanuptheworld.org)

EDA is the organizer of the Clean Up Arabia campaign in collaboration with UNEP YouthXchange West Asia (Shabab) (United Nations Environment Programme – Regional Office of West Asia / UNEP – ROWA). It is backed by the Australian’s ‘Clean Up the World’ campaign, the USA-based ‘International Coastal Cleanup’ and PADI PROJECT A.W.A.R.E. All these organizers have years of experience around the world, coordinating groups from all walks of life to join together for the good of the earth.

Clean Up Arabia 2008 is an annual voluntary campaign that aims to clean up the dive sites and beaches of the UAE. Campaign objectives are:

• Engage the community and involve people from all walks of life to make a difference.
• Clean the marine environment from pollution.
• Direct people toward positive attitudes in maintaining a clean and sound environment by practice and participation.
• Supporting continuous clean up activities (donating re-cycle containers on site).

The campaign is regional, covering the UAE, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman and Bahrain which is driven and mobilized by EDA. It is all about making a difference, and spreading awareness – supporting to build environmental libraries in local schools. Part of the campaign is to record the quantities and types of ‘refuse’ collected – data collected is reported to International Coastal Cleanup (ICC) and used in educating the public, business, industry and government officials about the marine debris problem.

Partnership Opportunity
The Clean Up campaign is made up of EDA members and sponsors that participate in the dive site and beach clean ups, which should help shape their consciousness concerning littering.

The Emirates Diving Association carries this work out, along with volunteers and members who are provided with T-shirts and caps, as well as the tools needed to achieve a high level of clean up.

Executive Team Building
The campaign is designed as an excellent executive team building exercise. The program is advised by the regional management expert and the partner organization team learn together, work together, and play together, and together with EDA volunteers, make a difference.

2008, Al Futtaim Carillion and Dubai Properties Group decided to allocate a whole day for their staff other than the Clean up day for team building and to spend a day with the EDA team to learn more about the marine environment and enjoy team building activities.

Clean Up Arabia 2008 Beach Volleyball Tournament
Eight teams participated this year and the tournament was competitive, exciting and fun and the crowd enjoyed all the matches. The winners were as follows:
1st place: Le Meridien Al Aqah Beach Resort – Fujairah
2nd place: Knowledge and Human Development Authority – Government of Dubai
3rd place: Emirates Diving Association

Clean Up Arabia 2007

The 12th Clean Up Arabia was held in 4 Emirates: Dibba, Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Ras Al Khaimah and 4 other countries: Oman, Bahrain, Qatar and Kuwait on the 9th and 10th of November 2007. There were 1,146 participants in total, 1,010 bags were collected and 8.5 tonnes of total trash weight was collected over a total distance of 12 kilometres.

A big thank you to all our participants who put in a huge effort and a special thanks to:
1.Our sponsors

• Majid Al Futtaim Group
• Dubai Properties
• DOW

2.Our Partners

• The Ocean Conservancy
• Clean Up The World
• UNEP

Clean Up Arabia 2006

The 11th anniversary of Clean Up Arabia witnessed the biggest number of participants in its history! Nearly a thousand volunteers from across the Emirates and as far as Oman, Kuwait and Bahrain joined the annual clean up.

Our sponsors: HSBC (Main Clean Up Sponsor), Majid Al Futtaim Group, Dubai Duty Free, Shell, Al Masaood, Le Meridien Al Aqah Beach Resort, SAE.

Our partners: Environment Agency - Abu Dhabi, UAE Ministry of Environment, Dibba Municipality, UNEP, Clean Up the World, Ocean Conservancy, Kuwait Oil Company, Bahrain Women’s Society, Nomad Ocean Adventures, Arabian Diver.

Clean Up Arabia Coordinators

• Alaá Ahmad - Bahrain Women’s Society, Bahrain
• Christophe Chellapermal - Nomad Ocean Adventures, Musandam - Oman
• Capt. Mohammed Al Basri - Dive Team , Kuwait Oil Company - Kuwait
• Adel Khatib - Arabian Diver (Ras Al Khaimah)
• Kathleen Russell - EDA Abu Dhabi Committee
• Melrose Valencia - EDA Clean Up Coordinator

Fast facts and figures
Total number of items collected: 9948
Total number of bags collected: 525
Some items of local concern: baby turtle in net, bones in plastic bag, 50kg of metal items with toxic chemicals, stained clothing weighed down with rocks.

Clean Up Arabia 2005

On the15th September, 2 Clean Ups took place: Local school children from the East Coast participated in the beach clean up. They raced along the edges of Dibba Port – Fujairah, enthusiastically driven by their teachers. This day was hosted by EDA & The Ministry of Agriculture & Fisheries. More than 60 divers joined EDA’s Abu Dhabi Committee to clean Emirates Heritage Club’s Al Sammalia Island.

On Friday 16th September, the clean up was held at the Meridien Al Aqah Hotel in Fujairah with Dr. Habib N. El-Habr, the Acting Director and Regional Representative of the United Nations Environment Programme/Regional Office of West Asia present.

The 10th Clean Up event was supported by over 500 volunteers who again put in all their efforts to pull in and categorise all the collected debris. Results came in with the same majority as last years collection indicating that plastic bottles, cigarettes and bags were the main culprits.

21% of the debris were plastic bottles
13.49% was cigarette related
10.23% were food containers, caps and lids
The Clean Up Arabia 2005 Beach Volleyball Tournament ended the event and for the 3rd year in a row Dubai Duty Free Team were the champions of the CUA 2005 Beach Volleyball Tournament.

Clean Up Arabia 2004

On the 16th and 17th of September, EDA held its 9th annual Clean Up Arabia event. Over 500 volunteers helped rid the beaches, dive sites and marine reserves (in Abu Dhabi, Dibba and Fujairah) of unsightly and dangerous rubbish.

The debris items gathered were categorized and counted by the volunteers. Shoreline and recreational activities, smoking related activities and dumping activities seemed to have left the most mess, but the results indicated that plastic bottles, cigarettes and bags constituted the majority of marine debris.