To Achieve Sustainable Development Every Sector Of Society Must Be Involved, Says Habiba Al Mar’ashi, President Of Arabia CSR Network | |
Staff Writer |
Teaching sustainability extends far beyond the classroom. It proposes to give students real-world skills they can use to enhance their contribution to the planet. It provides today’s children with the self-sufficiency they need for a better tomorrow as it gives them a deeply engraved understanding of why the environment is important.
Emirati environmentalist, Mrs. Habiba Al Mar’ashi, co-founded the Emirates Environmental Group in 1991 and in 2004; she founded the Arabia CSR network devoted to corporate social responsibility across the Arab region. In 2006, she co-founded the Emirates Green Building Council and in 2008 she established the UN Global Compact – GCC Network. She is popularly referred to as the UAE environmental movements’ most recognisable figure for her pioneering work in CSR and Sustainability.
In this exclusive with Thirty to Net Zero Mar’ashi highlights how she has served the world of sustainable development for over three decades, including all sectors of society; the students, the youth, the families, the corporations, the Emirates Environmental Group, the Arabian CSR network and the Emirates Green Building Council.
An insightful read…
Q: Given that the world is very fast progressing in the direction of sustainable development, do you believe schools and universities will have a more integral role to play? Or would the major responsibility be wasted on the corporates?
A: To achieve sustainable development, an issue of that magnitude and on the global level, you need every single member of the society to be involved. We need to start with students to individuals, corporations, academic institutions, NGOs, government organisations to international bodies. So, actually it is every single entity-body. An individual that is living, kicking and thriving has a role to play in this whole equation.
If you are looking at the role of universities and students, that has always been a very strong focus area for me personally and at all the entities and bodies that I have founded or have participated in and contributed to, education has been and will continue to be the main component and backbone of the work that we want to do, we aspire to achieve, and are actually working to diligently achieve it.
When you look at the other sectors of society, for example, the corporations, and this is again an area that I work very closely with, we have looked at who our stakeholders are, and we have identified the private sector to be one of our main stakeholders. In the UAE, which is a young country, we have seen a lot of changes in the corporate behaviour in the last 30 years. We are seeing more private sector entities coming on board the sustainability bandwagon but it has not reached a level of being a mainstream issue yet. We still have a long way to go.
Very few entities stand out from the crowd, doing what needs to be done, because they believe this is the only way to enable them to achieve long-term sustainability of their businesses. Whether these are multinational organisations, national organisations, or even regional organisations, nobody can today ignore the devastating effect of climate change on the environment, the economy and the society and the resultant damages that have been caused.
If you look at the massive destruction of forests, if you look at the fires that are erupting all over the world, if you look at the high-rise temperatures in Europe this year, the floods, and devastating impacts of rains in many parts of the world, all these issues are the result of Climate change.
Everything that we produce has an impact on the environment. The high impact of the speed and scale of our extracting resources from the environment to make the products that we produce not only for our sustenance but for our luxury standard of living.
So, when we look at what is being produced from dental hygiene products, health care products, furniture, textiles and the toxic dyes used in fabrics, building materials, the dominating pharmaceutical industry, oil & gas, petrochemicals, the transport, the packaging that we need for all our items requires serious action. We need to change these unsustainable patterns of production and consumption now and we need to have a disruptive change.
When you look at all the above, you will see that education and raising awareness will be the most effective tool that we need to utilise here. Although it is one of the most effective ones, it cannot deliver single-handedly. We, therefore, need other components to support that. Amongst the critical components that need to be focused on is to look at the laws and policies, we need to change them and enforce laws on products that are manufactured to have a detailed manifesto on how to properly dismantle them into individual components to be reused or recycled or safely disposed of.
We must understand how we can work together to usher in circularity and ensure that we get rid of the unsustainable ways of production over time. So here is where the roles of the schools and universities come into focus. We need to change the syllabus and integrate end of life cycle procedures. It has to be nicely enacted into the curriculum and the modules into the teaching methods so that they understand how to deal with modern-day requirements and modern-day challenges with the opportunities that are there to change their mindset. How many schools out there are teaching about what to do with the products at the end of the life cycle? How many are addressing the negative impacts of the use and production of items. How many universities have specialities in fields that target end of life of a product?
The actual reality and impact of our modern way of life must be taught to students and critical thinking should be encouraged to build a more sustainable future for all. So, to answer your question, yes the academia will also play a vital role in the path to sustainable future.
Q: What are some of the key challenges that you face especially when you're trying to reach out, to not just the corporates, but even to the schools and universities? How many of these have you been able to overcome?
A: An environmentalist’s life is never boring. It is full of challenges that you try to tackle and conquer. Our focus from the beginning was on how to work with the future generations and how to mould them into the right mindset and create future environmentalists. UAE is a unique place in that it has got so many curriculums from all over the world being taught. We have around 202 nationalities living in this country. So, each community caters to the requirements of its members and that has brought diversity into the educational system.
Schools have become very competitive in bringing the latest, the best, and the newest to the student community to attract parents. This is an area that we have worked with schools very closely. We have created many platforms be it theoretical programmes, workshops, competitions, or hands-on action programmes, (many of our programmes are hands-on). We have quite a few programmes catering only to the student community.
For instance, we have a programme that has been running for more than 12 years called the “Neighbourhood Recycling Programme”. The programme caters to the student community whereby we train the students to reach out to and interact with 20 neighbours. So, you are building community links here, but the student is the one who is responsible to convince them to join in recycling. The student has to mobilise, organise, and arrange the collection of the material by liaising with Emirates Environmental Group to pick it up in a limited period of two weeks.
We have a strong criterion that he or she has to follow, and we have a mechanism in place to ensure that it is being followed properly, but the reward is beautiful. Apart from gaining experience, they make new friends, connect with neighbours, and create a strong network. The students manage to learn organisational and management skills, designing, and more.
We have connected our recycling & waste management programme by giving back to nature, through planting trees, we furnish them with data when they are collecting recyclables, to tell them that their action has resulted in a certain amount of CO2 emission reduction from the environment, or a landfill space has been saved because that material did not end up in landfills, but has instead entered the factories for recycling and production of new products. So, they see the whole and complete a cycle.
We receive every year hundreds of students that participate very actively in this programme. This is one of EEG’s approaches to help change the mind-set. When you are engaging with the student it is not a solo affair as it entails the involvement of the father, the mother and the siblings. So, therefore, you're engaging the whole family through this programme. This is one of our very popular activities and action programmes and I think this combination of theory and practice is what has made EEG so popular amongst the education institutions, families and corporations.
We also provide a platform where corporations can utilize a lot of voluntary work hours, and the community comes together. This is where we think, act and see the results together. We have this beautiful programme called “For Our Energy Plant”. This is a programme that we started in 2007. Up until today, we have planted 2,108,513 native trees in the United Arab Emirates. Just imagine the size of forests that have been developed, and the carbon sinks that we have managed to create, which contribute directly to the strategy of the UAE in dealing with the reduction of CO2 emissions. The strategy of the UAE is to be net zero by 2050, we at EEG believe this to be one of the effective ways that we, as a civil society, mobilise the masses to be involved in environmental work.
Q: What do you think are the three fundamentals for creating a lifelong environmentalist?
A: We at EEG expose the students to the surrounding environment and teach them how to respect the environment and the value of preserving it. They even know for example, what their T-shirts are made of and where their resources are coming from, the food that is on their tray, the healthy options, the water footprint, the carbon footprint, and all the energy that goes in there. So, these are all part and parcel of what we expose our students to all the time through different platforms.
We expose them, motivate them and inspire the young minds to do the right thing. As just observing will not be enough, you need to engage them and that's why you find that in all our programmes, the students must work on the projects themselves. We also work with relevant authorities in the country and that help us reach to the different institutions. Our activities are not focused in Dubai only; we work with different educational institutions from all over the UAE.
Q: How people can get connected to the EEG, should they want to be a part of it? How do you all get your volunteers in? Is it just student volunteers or do you just go ahead and tie up corporations? Can individuals who are genuinely interested from across the board come and join the EEG?
A: When we set EEG up 31 years ago, it was a unique platform. We wanted to engage everybody regardless of nationality, gender, or position in life, we believe that we have to come together as human beings and work together. So that is why we created EEG as a group and it is a membership-based organisation. We have different types of memberships, corporate educational and academic membership. We also have student membership and individual membership. Our motto since the establishment is; “Together for a Better Environment”
We are accredited by the United Nations Environment Programme and United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification. We were the first member to join the UN Global Compact in the GCC region, we went on to form the UNGC -GCC network and we managed it and oversaw its operation for more than seven years, working with different entities. This has helped us broaden our scope and our strength and to bring what is the best out there to our region.
To join us and be part of this unique experience, simply go to our website and fill up the application form. A lot of companies join us as corporates, and that helps them to connect directly with the different programmes of EEG. We then work with them closely to put strategies for managing their waste and recycling. We arrange collections of materials on complementary bases too. We also work on awareness sessions and provide platforms where the employees can come and be involved and volunteer. ‘Clean-up UAE’ is a practical example. This is a programme that we started in 2002 and continues very strongly. Every year thousands of people from all walks of life participate in this campaign and we have covered more than 1,000 kilometres in the country and have managed to collect thousands of kg of unsightly waste and clean many areas in the different Emirates.
The main objective of this programme is also to raise awareness and motivate people to come and participate and see the beauty of the natural environment of the UAE. It is very inspiring for the participants to witness first hand their contribution to maintaining the beauty and pristine of the places covered by Clean Up campaign, it definitely resonates well with everybody. It is a win-win situation for anyone who is involved in these programmes.
I would like to, through this platform to invite members to visit our website and see how they can be actively involved. One of the effective ways is also the series of panel discussions, and regular intellectual platforms that we roll out to create awareness on a very high scale.
Q: Could you tell us for the benefit of the audience a little bit about the UN Global Compact, and of course, your role in it? And how has it impacted your life as a professional?
A: My association with the UN Global Compact, started in 2005-2006. I received a letter from the late UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, inviting me to be a board member of the UN Global Compact, and I was the 1st Arab woman to be chosen for that platform. I'm an environmentalist and sustainable development advocate and it was very rewarding for me to see the response to the work that I was doing on the ground in my country and the region.
Amongst the areas that I covered during my tenure with the UNGC was to mobilize the private sector to come on board this global platform voluntarily? I'm proud to say that in the six years that I served as a board member, I managed to bring on board more than 110 corporations from the GCC region to be members of the UN Global Compact. Today, UN Global Compact principles are a part and parcel of the corporate culture in the country.
One of our famous and popular products is called the Arabia CSR awards. There is a main component in the application process that we ask entities if they are affiliated with or know about the UN Global Compact, if they are members of it, if they are implementing its 10 principles and if entities produce a communication on progress report, which is part of the requirement of the UN Global Compact. So, serving as a board member for six years and establishing the UNGC-GCC Network and managing it for 7 years has added a lot of value for me as an individual and as head of several non-government organisations. It has enriched my experience and I learned a lot from my fellow board members and from the international body itself.
At the same time, we have added a lot of value to the global platform. I always say there is no one size fits all and these international platforms need to look very closely at different regions. It requires evolvement in ways that fits different regions. So, the products that will fit, the Middle East region will be different from the ones that will be suitable for Africa or Asia or Europe, Latin America, or North America. To be able to engage the different sectors of society there is a need to adopt different ways to ensure that the principles are nicely disseminated and incorporated and acted on. That is where we Alhamdulillah excel in doing.
In October 2019, I was selected by the current Secretary General, His Excellency, Antonio Guterres, to be a board member of a unique platform known as Global Investors for Sustainable Development Alliance. This is another strong platform on the global level, whereby the private sector and the financial institutions are encouraged to mobilise themselves and the right financial resources to enable us collectively to achieve the sustainable development goals by 2030. There's a lot of meaningful and constructive work that is going on, on this platform and I'm very proud to be a part of it.
Q: When it comes to student activism, what is that one incident that probably, propelled this entire journey of you becoming an environmental activist all those years ago when the environment was not on everyone's priority list?
A: I can't say there was one such incident; instead, it was a way of life and I always say I owe to my late father and also to my beloved mother. Right from instilling the right teachings in us from a very, very young age, whether it was the conservation of resources, respect for nature and all living creatures, understanding our role as human beings on the planet and us being the custodians of life, we were taught that we have a responsibility and we will be held accountable on the day of the judgment. Understanding that from an early age and learning how to implement it serves you when you grow up, as it becomes part and parcel of who you are and what you are and why you need to practice resource conservation and environmental protection.
I was always out there supporting families and relatives in whichever way I was able to. So that translated into the ability to do something for the environment, when I was exposed in 1989 & 1990, to the modern-day understanding of the environment. I think it's a calling in life that a person is blessed to have and I believe I am one of those privileged, who have found my calling in life through environmental work. So, when I started volunteering in the environmental field and working in its different spheres, I was finding myself, and enjoying what I was doing immensely. That is what makes it all so enriching and fulfilling.
I wanted to explore and when I got the answer, it ignited something within me to change. I wouldn't take no for an answer when I faced challenges and obstacles, I would push and forge ahead armed with good will and the support of society at large. That also helped me discover my potential, I believe there is a power within every person that helps define the path, one needs to tap in and start the journey.
When you see those wonderful students shining, achieving and excelling, it is worth all the trouble and effort. When you see the result and the numbers and the data of the different programmes that we are doing, when we become a source of data and are able to provide data to relevant entities, it gives us immense satisfaction and encourages us to forge ahead.