His Excellency Dr. Thani Ahmed Al Zeyoudi, Minister of Climate Change and Environment (MOCCAE), expressed his utmost appreciation and gratitude to His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the UAE, for his patronage of UAE National Environment Day celebrations.
"The patronage of His Highness the President of UAE for this occasion underlines UAE's firm and inherent commitment to protect the environment, and to continue its efforts to achieve the goals of sustainable development in accordance with the UAE Vision 2021, which was inspired by the prospects of His Highness’s national action program", His Excellency said.
Dr. Al Zeyoudi explained that the 20th National Environment Day, celebrated on February 4, 2017, and extends for three years (2017-2019), will carry the theme of "Sustainable Production and Consumption", in order to highlight the important role of sustainable practices and rationalizing the consumption of resources in achieving sustainability, emphasizing that this issue is gaining a lot of momentum due to the high levels of consumption, especially in energy and water resources, food, waste generation and carbon emissions.
"The issue of sustainable production and consumption is among the primary issues around the world and has been given a lot of attention over the decades. It was one of the important issues on the 21st century agenda of the Earth Summit in 1992, and today, it constitutes one of the seventeen goals in the sustainable development plan 2030 adopted by the United Nations General Assembly last year,” His Excellency added.
Al Zeyoudi pointed out that high consumption rates represent a significant challenge and one of the factors causing the high ecological footprint in the UAE, stressing on the need for the participation of all segments of society in supporting the ongoing efforts of government institutions to reduce this phenomenon of unsustainable consumption and its negative impact. He called upon all institutions in the government and private sectors, civil society organizations and various community groups and individuals to express their commitment to the principle of environmental responsibility, through active participation in the celebrations of the National Environment day, expressing his optimism that this occasion will be an important turning point to start treating our environmental with greater responsibility.
It is noteworthy that celebrating the Environment Day, which was launched 20 years ago, aims mainly at highlighting the enduring attention and patronage of UAE’s leadership for environmental action at various aspects, as well as recognizing the efforts of the various stakeholders and underlining UAE achievements in the field of environment in particular and sustainable development in general, in addition to raising awareness of the importance of environmental issues and urging individuals and groups to participate actively in its protection.