Dnata Eco-Campaign cleans up Dubai Creek

Part of Dnata's corporate social responsibility programme, the "Clean Creek Campaign" again proved to be a worthwhile collaborative effort between Dnata, Dubai Municipality, the Ministry of Environment, Dubai Police and Danat Dubai Cruises.

Jean Pierre De Pauw, Senior Vice President, Dnata Cargo, flagged off the 17 volunteer divers who spent the day collecting the rubbish from the creek bed, which included plastic bags, tyres, cans, bottles and other miscellaneous debris.

Commenting on the event, Jean Pierre De Pauw said: "The Clean Creek Campaign aims to raise public awareness about the need to protect and preserve the environment in general, and of the Dubai Creek in particular.

"The creek has played a vital role in the historical growth and development of Dubai as a trading hub, and forms a part of the city's natural environment. Sadly, it has become increasingly polluted by thoughtless dumping of waste by the public and by passing boats.

"We are proud to be associated with environmental work and this particular campaign. Our staff members are regularly involved in environmental clean-up activities."

Dnata and Emirates employees dedicated time and effort toward the Clean Creek Campaign, and played a major role in conceiving and organising the entire event - from providing divers, planning logistics, liaising with the Municipality, Police and Ministry, rallying sponsors, organising diving equipment and ensuring other arrangements for the day.

Dubai Municipality provided boats to take the divers out on the creek and provided equipment required to gather the debris. Two rescue boats were deployed by Dubai Police, and expert divers were on hand to ensure the safety of the volunteer divers. Danat Dubai Cruises provided a cruise boat to serve as command centre, and a safe haven for divers to rest and enjoy refreshments between dives.

Planning for the clean-up event started more than a month ago, when two Emirates Group staff - both certified dive instructors - organised a site inspection of Dubai Creek with Dubai Municipality, to ensure all safety requirements would be satisfied during the event. This included water quality, currents, visibility and surface traffic.

One of the certified dive instructors said: "Considering the amount of pollution and waste that has been thrown into the creek, I was surprised to see a good amount of marine life, which shows the quality of the water is not as poor as we thought.

"I expected to see small fish, but we even saw some more interesting creatures like squid, starfish and a sting ray; it just shows that there is life in the creek and we need to be careful not to take that away."

Dnata organises and supports a number of other eco-campaigns in partnership with Dubai Municipality, including Clean Mountain, Clean Up The World, Clean Up UAE and Can Collection campaigns.