Earth Hour UAE 2012 Highlights 1 Earth Hour 2012 Earth Hour around the world Every year, Earth Hour calls on people around the world to demonstrate their commitment and willingness to take action for the planet by switching off all non-essential lights for one hour. it also calls on everyone to go beyond the hour, and make Earth Hour more than just an hour by adopting long term environmental change. Earth Hour 2012 was another record breaking year for the campaign, which reached over hundreds of millions, in 152 countries and 6,892 towns and cities, with new countries including Iraq, Libya, Ethiopia and Algeria. Key landmarks around the world switched off their lights to observe the hour, including Sydney Opera House, Burj Khalifa and the Great Wall of China. The campaign garnered the support from key organizations and high profile individuals that called for everyone to unite for the planet. As darkness swept the planet on the night of 31st of March, 2012, Nelson Mandela took to Twitter to show his support for the cause. "Let us stand together to make of our world a sustainable source for our future as humanity on this planet" #NelsonMandela #EarthHour”, the former President of South Africa tweeted. The innovative “I Will If You Will” (IWIYW) Challenge was also launched under Earth Hour, to empower everyone to be an inspiration for others, and motivate them to make positive changes in their life for the planet. Many celebrities participated in I Will If You Will, such as Miranda Kerr and HE Ratu Epeli Nailatikau, the president of Fiji. Built on the YouTube platform, this social campaign asked one party to dare another party to a sustainable challenge or action in return for a promise of some kind. It successfully attracted the attentions of hundreds of thousands, bringing sustainability issues to the daily talk, and highlighting the importance of long lasting action for the planet. 2 Photo credits: Geoff Wison/WWFUK | Katie Edmonds/WWF Canada | Earth Hour Morocco | David Beine Earth Hour UAE 2012 Earth Hour UAE was bigger and better than ever before with a total official participation of 22 towns and cities from across all seven emirates. Thousands of residents had the opportunity to join public and community events that swept the different emirates, while many more observed the hour from their homes and offices. Many of the UAE’s buildings also switched off all non essential lights, heading the list were several prominent landmarks such as the Burj Khalifa, Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque and the Burj Al Arab. The UAE community also participated in the I Will If You Will Challenge, inspired by key individuals such as HH Sheikh Abdul Aziz Al Nuaimi (the Green Sheikh), Ali Al Saloom (Ask Ali) and Kris Fade, who called for recycling and reusing. Businesses used the Earth Hour platform to encourage a long-term shift towards more sustainable actions and practices, encouraging their employees to take public transport, switch to online banking and recycle. Learn more about inspiring stories from the UAE on www.ewswwf.ae/earthhour. Overall, it is estimated that the Earth Hour message reached to more than 3 million UAE residents and the list of events was longer than previous years. Celebrations across the emirates In each emirate, key partners took the lead to organize events, coordinate the switch off of key landmarks and encourage participation in Earth Hour. City of Abu Dhabi Municipality, Dubai Electricity and Water Authority, Environment & Protected Areas Authority, Fujairah Municipality, Ras Al Khaimah Tourism Authority, Umm Al Quwain Municipality and Ajman Municipality led the coordination of public events in each emirate. This was complemented by support from many key partners and supporters that engaged with the local community by contributing to the public events and/or organizing activities and celebrations. This report highlights only a selection of the public events that took place across the emirates. Abu Dhabi An event was held on Abu Dhabi Corniche hosted by Abu Dhabi Municipality and included many family activities. The event saw a public drumming session led by Dubai WWF - Drums as part of ADMAF’s Abu Dhabi Music Festival. The (c) EWS(c) buildings of the Abu Dhabi Corniche were switched off along with other key landmarks across the emirate of Abu Dhabi. Fairmont Bab Al Bahr held a 24 hour cycle marathon where they set up two bicycles in the lobby of the hotel from 10.30am on Saturday and had riders pedal for 24 hours to power an LED light structure in the lobby. New York University in Abu Dhabi held a pre-Earth Hour event where students gathered for a barbeque and discussed what Earth Hour was to them and what environmental actions they could take to go beyond the hour. Abu Dhabi Airports Authority held candlelit vigils at the emirate’s airports, and switched off the second runway at Abu Dhabi airport to announce to the world the country’s commitment to environmental change and ensure that the Earth Hour message is heard loud and clear. There were also community and hotel events held in Al Ain and throughout the Western Region. Dubai Earth Hour Dubai was observed under the patronage of H.H. Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of Dubai Executive Council. DEWA, in partnership with Emaar and Dubai Supreme (c) Canon (c) Energy Council hosted an Earth Hour event at Burj Plaza in Downtown. Theatrical and artistic performances took place, with a march around Emaar Boulevard led by Dubai Police. Sustainable and environmental information and tips were distributed and there was a special appearance by the characters from Freej. The lights of the Burj Khalifa were switched off, while candles were lit spelling out Earth Hour. An estimated 6000 people took part in the event, with a great showing of more than 400 volunteers from HSBC. Visitors to Dubai public parks and children centres also had the opportunity to observe the hour and join hundreds of millions around the world. Dubai airports raised awareness about Earth Hour amongst passengers and employees by switching off non essential lights and holding different activities during the hour. Several community events were also held across Dubai DMCC hosted an event for the JLT community, Canon Middle East hosted in Dubai Internet City and Silicon Oasis hosted an event at the Cedre Shopping center, to mention a few. Sharjah The Sharjah Earth Hour event, hosted by Environment and Protected Areas Authority in Sharjah (EPAA), was held at al Majaz Waterfront and was attended by an estimated 4000 people. It featured theatrical performances by the children of the (c) EPAA (c) Sharjah City for Humanitarian Services, and drawing competitions for children held by SEWA and the Ministry of Public Works. Sharjah Museums also held a celebration for Earth Hour, inviting families and residents to join the different activities. Al Qasbah took part by turning their lights off alongside buildings in all other towns in the emirate, from Khor Fakkan to Delma. Ras Al Khaimah Ras Al Khaimah Tourism Authority and the Ras Al Khaimah Government organised a few public events as well as having the Chamber of Commerce & Industry building switch off its lights for one hour. The events held included a candlelit dinner at Al Hamra Golf Club, a live band in Al Manar Mall, and a speciality menu at “Pesto” restaurant on Al Qawasin Corniche Fujairah Fujairah Municipality held an event in front of the municipality building where lanterns were lit and sent into the air. Earth Hour UAE 2012 in media 228 articles in key Arabic and English media helped spread the message of Earth Hour and communicated the support of different entities and community groups. Opportunity to see Earth Hour related coverage estimated at over 31 million. This is double the number of articles that appeared in UAE media during Earth Hour 2011. Earth Hour UAE on Social Media Facebook 2.69 million people reached through social ads and content on facebook.com/ews.wwf alone: • Posts and page content reached 727,447 people in the UAE from 1-31 March • Posts and page content reached 144,267 people in the UAE from 1-5 April. Twitter Tweets with the #EarthHourUAE hashtag had over 239,000 impressions and reached over 209,000 people. However, there were other mentions of Earth Hour using #EarthHour and #IWIYW Over 2,104 tweets using the #EarthHourUAE hashtag in the 3 weeks leading up to 31 March. Many additional tweets used #EarthHour Youtube Total views on EWS-WWF’s youtube channel (www.youtube.com/wwfuae) during Earth Hour reached 22,243. 47% of the views came from embedded players, highlighting the important role the online community in distributing the message of Earth Hour. I Will If You Will The concept is simple: inspire others by challenging them to commit to an environmental action in exchange for a dare. Everyone and anyone can post a challenge on the campaign’s online platform, and invite others to accept their challenge by answering the question: 'What are you willing to do to save the planet?' Individuals around the world and in the UAE took this campaign onboard, challenging their communities to step up and go ‘Beyond the Hour’. Businesses and community groups called for a sustained environmental change using the I Will If You Will platform. You can read more on inspiring stories and challenges on our website (www.ewswwf.ae). Here in the UAE, we saw participation from high profile individuals and businesses. The list included: H.H. Sheikh Abdul Aziz Al Nuaimi (the Green Sheikh), Ali Al Saloom (also known as Ask Ali), Kris Fade from Virgin Radio, Ammar Shams (Regional head of sustainability and corporate responsibility of HSBC Bank Middle East), 7days newspaper and Catboy (from Dubai 92.0 FM).