Dubai Municipality to raise funds, plant trees on Car-Free day

Dubai - More are expected to join the initiative of using public transport, walking or cycling to their offices on Feb.5.

For every participant on Car-Free day initiative on Feb.5, Dubai Municipality will plant 12 trees or donate the value of the trees to charity organizations.
Eng. Hussain Nasser Lootah, Director General of Dubai Municipality, said the aim this year is to establish the initiative for both environmental and charitable causes in line with the 2017 Year of Giving.
He noted that as part of the 8th Car-Free Day, expected to see employees of 1,500 government and private entities ditch their cars and use public transport, calculations of the number of trees will be determined through the amount of carbon emissions -produced by cars- saved on that day.
"For every person who does not use a car, we will calculate how much pollution they saved the environment from. Depending on the number of trees that eliminates the equivalent amount of carbon dioxide, we will donate its value to charity organizations."
A vehicle with a full tank fuel size of 15 gallons emits nearly 140 kilograms of carbon dioxide into the air, making the amount of total emissions annually reach up to four tonnes.
Khalid Mohammed Sharif, Assistant Director General of Dubai Municipality for Environment, Health and Safety Control Sector, said for every car unused, about 12 trees are saved. Planting a small tree costs around Dh150.
"The initiative is aimed to encourage commuters to avoid using their vehicles consistently to help save the environment from pollution that contributes to global warming," said Sharif.
He noted that 580 out of the targeted 1,500 entities are already registered in the initiative, with more expected to join the line of using public transport, walking or cycling to their offices on Feb.5.
Lootah said that the civic body has been urging all government and private entities to set their own Car-Free Day and vowed full support from the municipality.
"If every entity set its own day, it means we will have more Car-Free Days throughout the year until we hopefully reach to a point where we have no cars on the streets!" said Lootah, noting that residents are also urged to join the initiative.
Car-Free initiative has seen growth in the past seven years.
Starting with the participation of two organizations where 1,000 vehicles were abandoned in 2009, it grew to reach 1,070 organizations where around 30,000 personal vehicles were abandoned last year.
"This year, the initiative will serve as an indirect reward for everyone as we all live in the same society that we hope would be carbon-free."
Participants can register through the municipality's website www.dm.gov.ae. 

• Dubai