We’re trashing the environment: how two Emirati sisters are trying to preserve marine ecosystems

‘Today, conservation of the environment is not meant only for the Government or for the officials. It is something that concerns us all. Individuals, voluntary groups of our citizens and others – all can and must get involved.” It was these words spoken by Sheikh Zayed, the founding President of the UAE, that inspired the Emirati siblings Maitha and Shamsa Al Hameli to form the Abu Dhabi Marine Conservation Group, which is aimed at raising community awareness.

“I wish this quote would reach the locals,” says Maitha, 29, who along with her younger sister is concerned about the future of the UAE’s marine environment after noticing dramatic changes in recent years. “We’d always go out to the beach as kids. We’d go out on boat trips, and we’d see all kinds of dolphins, fish, birds, and then suddenly it struck us that in the past 10 years we stopped seeing what we used to see. There was not as much dolphin interaction as we used to get as kids; the water is not the water we used to swim in as kids.”

The sisters were born and raised in Abu Dhabi, and like many Emirati children, spent much of their childhood at the beach or in a boat out at sea. It was during these early years that their parents instilled in them the importance of caring for the environment.

“Our parents used to tell us to clean up after ourselves. It was like a big thing if someone dropped some rubbish,” says Shamsa, 24, who’s in her final year of a degree in environmental and ecological biology at United Arab Emirates University. “Our parents made us think differently, if there was a sick turtle or a sick bird or whatever, our family would take it in.”

Original article by Melinda Healy

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We’re trashing the environment: how two Emirati sisters are trying to preserve marine ecosystems