Civic campaign will target litterbugs

Dubai: With a view to keeping the roads clean, Dubai Municipality has launched a ten-day campaign that will focus on sending the message across to the general public against littering, spitting or throwing cigarette butts on the road.

Apart from school and college students, the civic body has taken on board taxi drivers to help spread its message.

Local Order No 11 of 2003 prohibits littering on roads and stipulates a fine of Dh500 for the offence. Fines for making city roads dirty range between Dh100 and Dh50,000 and can be doubled for repeat violations.

"Our goal is to make people aware and not to impose fines on them. We want to tell them that they should keep the roads clean and through this campaign we are trying to take this message to a large number of people," said Abdul Majid Saifee, director, Waste Management Department of Dubai Municipality.

Taxi drivers are undergoing awareness sessions about the importance of keeping the roads clean and being handed flyers and other awareness material aimed at their passengers.

The campaign will tell people how discarded items or even a carelessly thrown cigarette butt could pose a threat to life besides being environmentally hazardous. The costs of subsequent clean-ups and disposal operations and the poor image of the city they project are also being highlighted.

"Apart from littering, we are also telling people not to throw cigarette butts on roads as these can be very dangerous," said Hamda Al Murr, head of the Awareness Team with the Waste Management Department.

Lectures, workshops, film screenings, awareness drives for road users and visitors, competitions and other activities will be organised as part of the campaign.

Special awareness programmes will be conducted in collaboration with Dubai Taxi and Galadari Driving Institute. Al Jazeera University, Salma Al Ansariya School, Asma Bint Abu Bakr School, Creative Model School and many other educational institutions will empower the campaign through various events. Deposit litter in containers provided for the purposeCarry a litter bag in your carReport areas where litter has accumulated Volunteer to help in clean-up campaigns and support the efforts of environmental agenciesSpread awareness and set a good example for others, particularly children

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Yemen campaign urges "A Day without Qat"

Mohammed al Qadhi

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SANAA // For one day, Yemeni protesters shifted their anger from their outgoing president, Ali Abdullah Saleh.

The new enemy No 1? The drug qat.

Much like the protests against the government, the campaign to end chewing of qat leaves was started on social networking websites.

On Thursday, thousands of people gathered in several cities to urge a one-day boycott of qat. Called "A Day without Qat", the campaign's goal was to raise awareness about its harmful effects.

"As a Yemeni who lives abroad, I hate the image that people have about Yemenis being occupied by this devilish tree. Besides, qat affects everything in Yemen: the economy, politics, and social life. Changing this bad habit would be a crucial step to achieving political change in Yemen", said Hind Aleryani, who launched the online campaign from her home in Lebanon.

Qat is a flowering evergreen shrub that produces leaves that many Yemenis chew. Qat is a stimulant that affects users much like cocaine.

About 30 per cent of Yemeni cancer patients have mouth and gum cancers by often illegal pesticides used on the country's qat and vegetables, according to Yemen's ministries of health and agriculture. A report by the ministries says that pesticides sprayed on qat is one of the main causes of cancer of the digestive system and kidney failure.

Qat chewers also lose their appetites and suffer from insomnia.

It is illegal in the UAE and many other countries, but is legal in Yemen, some East African countries and the UK.

Qat consumption and cultivation is considered a significant problem in Yemen.

In a country that is running out of water, an estimated 50 per cent its water resources go to the irrigation of qat trees. according to a Ministry of Water. There is so much qat cultivation that it is crowding out the growing of vegetables and coffee.

The drug is a part of everyday life for many in Yemen. An estimated 70 to 80 per cent of Yemeni men and women between the ages of 16 and 50 have chewed qat at least once, according to Al Afif Cultural Foundation. Families spend about 21 per cent of their income on qat.

Thursday's boycott seemed to have an effect on the sale of the drug. Qat sellers, particularly those around the protest camps, said sales were down by half. Others said they were unaware of the campaign.

Several leading figures in the protest movement against the government took part in the anti-qat campaign, including Tawakkul Karman, Yemen's Nobel Peace Prize winner, and Mohammed Abu Lahoum, a key opposition politician.

Some activists believe it would be impossible to make qat illegal in Yemen, but said consumption could be lowered. They cited a law in the former South Yemen that prohibited chewing the leaf except on weekends.

Wafa Al Walidi, one of the leading campaigners who lives in Taiz, said the campaign against qat was launched at the perfect time. People who had given up on the prospect of change had their spirits lifted by the uprising against the government, she said. "This is another revolution on one's self. Even those addicted to qat observed the occasion. I know we cannot achieve this objective overnight. It is a challenge. But, it is a great start towards raising awareness. Big achievements start small."

malqadhi@thenational.ae

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