Shoppers lack environmental awareness

Organisers of an environmental awareness campaign at a shopping mall in Abu Dhabi were shocked to find that many of the shoppers were not aware of the basic environmental problems around them. "Even many respondents who answered our questions said they were not aware that the UAE is part of a water scarce region," said Jonia Mathews, the honourary president of the Indian Ladies Association (ILA), who spoke to Gulf News on the sidelines of an Environmental Awareness Event at Khalidiya Mall on Saturday evening. The ILA event was organised in association with the Centre of Waste Management - Abu Dhabi, on the occasion of the UAE Environment Day. "Although last year we had conducted a similar event at Abu Dhabi Mall, we could not assess people's awareness but this year we had a quiz competition about environment for shoppers... only a mere two per cent of the audience gave satisfactory answers," Mathews said. Vaishali Popli, Honourary General Secretary of the ILA, said many people were not aware of the dangers of plastic bags. Fact Box Some questions that received no answers or correct answers 1. Is the UAE in a water-scarce region? (Correct answer: Yes). 2. Tell or list some environmental hazards caused by plastic bags (No satisfactory answers given) 3. Full meaning of WWF, the organisation working on environment concerns? Given answer: World Wrestling Federation (Correct answer: Word Wildlife Fund).