Dubai: The British Council UAE celebrated the closing of its Climate Connection Champions Programme by awarding the young students who successfully created and implemented projects in their communities to create a greener, more sustainable country.
The programme, which started in October 2021 on the back of COP26 in the UK, saw 50 students from across the UAE creating four social action plans to address the challenges of climate and environment in the country during a one-week workshop that also helped strengthen their leadership and team-working skills.
The Climate Connection Champions programme was been funded by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office of the UK government.
All four plans were equally creative and inspirational, and the judges unanimously recognised the four most promising initiatives:
Team Angles – created a mobile application that is an opportunity to make food waste management system fun and impactful for youth in the Dubai International Academic City area.
Team Go Green – engaged the education community in ensuring a safe environment, free from plastic waste, for the future.
Team M’s – provided drinking water using sustainable methods to help reduce climate change.
Team AJ – promoted awareness among individuals regarding the climate crisis and popularizes climate-friendly life choices by encouraging recycling and buying second-hand garments.
Empowering the youth
Aida Salamanca, country director of the British Council UAE, said: “The Climate Connection Champions programme has all been about empowering youths to take action on climate change and I want to congratulate all the students for their inspiring ideas and hard work on implementing these ideas over the last months. The UAE is home to beautiful nature and also depends on its nature in many ways and it has been so inspiring to see how the action plans have had great impact on the way people view climate and made actual difference when it comes to tackling environmental challenges in their communities.”
Prof. Muthanna G. Abdul Razzaq, president in American University in the Emirates, Dubai, added: “It was our utmost pleasure to take part in such a promising program, which comes at the right time to take part in the UAE’s endeavours to lead the global efforts in the field of climate change, especially the UAE will be hosting the global climate summit COP 28 in 2023.”
