Qatar's leading academy for performing arts IAID has joined hands with the Friends of the Environment Centre (FEC) for the World Environment Day (WED) festivities which kick off on May 17 and run till June 5.

World Environment Day is annual event celebrated worldwide on June 5, initiated by the UNEP in 1972 that aims to become the biggest and most widely celebrated global day for positive environmental action.

In Qatar, celebration of the World Environment Day (WED) started in 2007 when IAID took the initiative to step up and speak up for the environment with a clear vision to influence the future of the nation building. In the further years, with the strong partnership with FEC, the WED participation from the Qatar community has been growing tremendously.

“World Environment Day celebration is for people from all walks of life to come together to ensure a cleaner, greener and brighter outlook for themselves and future generations. The objective is to formulate 'A Global Agenda for Change' — ensuring development needs of today without compromising the ability to provide the needs of future generations,” said Dr Saif Ali Al Hajari, the chairman of FEC.

The theme for this year’s WED celebrations across the world is “Think.Eat.Save,” stated Dr Al Hajari. "Think.Eat.Save is an anti-food waste and food loss campaign that encourages you to reduce your food print," he noted.

Explaining the theme, Dr Al Hajari said, “This year’s campaign rallies you to take action from your home and then witness the power of collective decisions you and others have made to reduce food waste, save money, minimize the environmental impact of food production and force food production processes to become more efficient.”

To involve the Qatari community in the WED celebrations and to create interest among the people, IAID in partnership with FEC has organized a wide variety of activities and contests to help the citizens become more aware of how they — as individuals — could make a positive impact on the environment.

Activities such as Eco-Fashion Design Contest for school students to Arts Workshop for teachers and Seminar on Sustainable Consumption for parents, have been lined up to include people from all walks of life for the WED celebrations.

One of the key initiative of this event is the WED  2013 Painting Contest which has successfully and continuously united arts and environmental awareness gathering creative enthusiasts from various schools, universities and general community in Qatar over the years.

The celebrations will culminate with  the WED 2013 Closing and Prize Awarding Ceremony along with an Art Exhibition of the winning paintings.-TradeArabia News Service