New push for green capital in Bahrain
Manama, June 8, 2014
School children are being trained to promote environmentally friendly policies as part of plans to attract investment for a project that aims to reduce pollution in the capital.
The Green Capital Project aims to produce green-friendly businesses and promote greenery in the country, starting with Manama, said a report in the Gulf Daily News (GDN), our sister publication.
Capital Governor Shaikh Hisham bin Abdulrahman Al Khalifa said he hoped to bring the public and private sectors together to improve sustainable development.
"We want to build a better life for people," he told the GDN.
"That comes through sustainable development and improving the standards of public spaces. We want to bring government and private sectors together.
"We had a humble start by announcing the project at Bahrain International Garden Show (BIGS), but we're now moving forward.
"We are starting by educating our children and working with public schools.
"The Capital Governorate has 50 public schools and we have invited them all to come in and discuss the project with us. Thirty schools agreed to come in.
"What we're trying to do now is raise awareness among our students and have an outdoor classroom project."
He said he hoped the programmes would prove successful and aimed to display the students' work at next year's BIGS.
"We have partners in the UK who will also be doing this in UK schools at the same time," he explained.
"There's going to be a pilot project starting in October this year with two schools, and we will see how it develops.
"If everything moves along smoothly, then we hope that an exchange programme will start next year with UK schools that we are partnered with.
"We'd have students go there and host students here. It will open minds of children on how to improve their communities and environment.
"Teachers and students are key in these changes because they will be carrying it forward and planting the love for the environment.
"It will grow with them and make them better, more caring human beings."
Shaikh Hisham said he was in talks with banks in the capital to get them to beautify the area surrounding their facilities.
"We have signed an agreement with Ahli United Bank, which will be beautifying the area around them and we want other banks to get involved," he said.
"By doing so they will benefit the whole community and make the capital beautiful."
He also said he was encouraging people to plant neem trees, also known as Indian Lilac.
"Neem trees provide great shade, don't need much water and repel insects," he added. - TradeArabia News Service
