PaperSmart initiative launched for COP18-CMP8, has resulted in a reduction of 96% in paper usage in the first two days of the ongoing Climate Change meeting, Fahad bin Mohamed al-Attiya, chairman of the organising sub-committee of COP18-CMP8 meetings, said yesterday.
Al-Attiya said with the decision to reduce the use of paper at the meetings to the minimum, there has been an effective saving of nearly 750,000 sheets of paper in the first two days.
The campaign PaperSmart allows participants to manage their own use of paper resources by printing only the documents that they need through the web portal of the
conference.
“Saving huge volumes of paper sheet means more than 90 trees have been saved and at this rate there is enough reason for me to feel that there could be more saving of trees in the next nine days of the conference,” he said.
Al-Attiya said out of the 17,600 delegates registered for the event, more than 13,000 have already arrived. Of them 6,000 are campaigners for Climate Change at different levels and 5,700 are observers, mainly from government bodies.
The official said various committees are working to address the grievances of the visitors and efforts are being made to ease up their movement while commuting to conferences. “Even though there have been traffic disruptions along the route, different agencies are coordinating with the Ministry of Interior to provide smooth passage to the visitors,” he added.
While highlighting the necessity of using the public transport for conferences, he said the reduction in the number of vehicles has not only saved fuel, but also has paved way for smooth movement to and from the venue.
Al-Attiya said Mowasalat is also operating buses to the exhibition centre from its six hubs and 30 other points. Buses are mostly operated at a 20-minute gap to the venue.
The screening of a film, “Tsunami and Cherry Blossoms”, is scheduled for the delegates at 8:30 and 9:30 pm today.
Speaking about the Global Day of Action march, scheduled for Saturday along the Corniche, Al-Attiya said: “We are proud that this march will be organised by Qatar youths and organisers, where participants from at least 150 nations are expected to run.”
According to the COP18-CMP8 organisers, more than 350 youths drawn from the Middle East and North African region have been provided the opportunity to attend the conference. “They are here to receive lessons on the importance of preserving and protecting environment and also to understand the seriousness at which the issue of Climate Change is discussed at different levels,” he said.