SynergY Participates in the Planting of 400 Ghaf Trees at a Landfill in UAE

On September 7th, Simran Vedvyas (UAE Chapter Leader) and her organziation SynergY participated in the largest national tree planting effort in the United Arab Emirates. The event, organized by the Dubai Municipality & Accor Hotels, engaged close to 60 youth in the planting of 400 native Ghaf trees and took place at Dubai Municipality’s Al Qusais Landfill site. ‘The Ghaf’, also known as the ‘tree of the dunes’ is a solution to desertification. The event was part of the continued Plant for the Planet Program. 

Accor Hotels' VP for Sustainable Development, Arnaud Herrmann said: “The Plant for the Planet program is unique as we see 1,900 of Accor Hotels’ properties donating half of their laundry savings to finance reforestation projects in 24 countries. For the UAE, we have selected to partner with Goumbook for the Give a Ghaf Tree Planting project to accompany us towards our goal of planting 100,000 trees within the next 10 years".

Eng. Sadin Al Falasi, Head of Treatment Systems Unit and Eng. Mukesh Sajwan, Principal officer, Waste Treatment graced the event by their presence at the landfill during the planting.

Tatiana Antonelli Abella, Managing Director of Goumbook and founder of the Give a Ghaf Tree Planting Program comments “The Ghaf trees planted in the landfill will aid vegetation and conservation within the fragmented landscape to maintain and improve the broader ecosystem across the area and support the green vision of the UAE government”.  Give a Ghaf Tree Planting Program launched by Gumbos in 2010 has been instrumental in raising awareness about the UAE’s national tree and the incredible biodiversity present in the desert.

Christophe Landais, “it is a privilege to have the strong support of Dubai Municipality towards this initiative and seeing the enthusiasm of these volunteers from Accor Hotels and SynergY, we will no doubt be able to accomplish our goals”.