HE the Minister of Environment Ahmed Amer Mohamed al-Humaidi presenting the award to Sasol Qatar’s public affairs general manager Jack Saba .
Sasol, an international integrated energy and chemical company, and Qatari forum Friends of the Environment Centre (FEC) have been honoured for developing the one-of-its-kind, smartphone application, Qatar e-Nature.
HE the Minister of Environment Ahmed Amer Mohamed al-Humaidi presented the award in recognition of the organisations’ contribution to the preservation of Qatar’s environmental resources.
Sasol Qatar’s public affairs general manager Jack Saba received the award at a seminar which addressed issues of maintaining plant biodiversity and the importance of setting environmental priorities for joint action and co-operation in line with the Qatar National Vision 2030 and the National Development Strategy.
Saba led a session presenting Sasol’s activities in promoting environmental and educational awareness through the use of the Qatar e-Nature application by students attending independent and private schools in Qatar.
“This year, thanks to the support of the Supreme Education Council we reached all of the schools in Qatar and had more than 15,000 participants in the annual Qatar e-Nature school contest,” observed FEC chairman Dr Saif al-Hajari.
Marjo Louw, president of Sasol Qatar said the Qatar e-Nature initiative has taken the awareness of the environment in Qatar to new heights in a fun and entertaining way.
“We thank Dr Saif al-Hajari and the Supreme Education Council for all of their support. We are confident that Qatar e-Nature will continue to build on its success as it becomes more useful through the addition of marine life later this year.”
This is the third accolade the Qatar e-Nature has received this year, coming soon after winning two regional awards: “Best Smart Mobile Application Award” in the Arab Region as part of the Smart Government Excellence Awards in Kuwait; and “Best Mobile Government Service Award” from Dubai in the environment category in the Arab Region.
Launched in December 2013, the Qatar e-Nature application highlights plant, bird, insect, mammal and reptile life in the country. Sasol created the app as part of its corporate social responsibility programme in partnership with FEC.
The app, which features content in Arabic and English, aims to support the objectives of Qatar National Vision 2030 to promote sustainable development by contributing towards an environmentally aware population.
The Qatar e-Nature app is available for download free of charge on Apple App Store, Google Play store for Android, and Windows Phone Store. A web version of the app (www.enature.qa) is also available for desktop access.
Facebook, Twitter and Instagram channels allow users to keep tabs on the latest developments. The application is updated regularly, having added mammals and reptiles earlier this year. Future updates will include marine life to further benefit users of the application.
