Dubai Municipality has announced that it has set a target to make the city ?green? by 2020 by turning four per cent of the emirate into parks
Hussain Nasser Lootah, director-general of the civic body, said, ?By conserving arid lands and expanding our green spaces, we can protect essential water supplies and preserve our next generation from drying up.?
Taleb Abdul Kareem Julfar, director of the Public Parks and Horticulture department at Dubai Municipality, said that by 2020, nearly 380 sq km of the Emirate will be used for cultivation purposes.
So far the civic body has achieved 5.09 per cent of their target.
The municipality plans to adopt more strategies, implement projects and raise public awareness for this cause, sources said.
?We are now concentrating on the concept of ?Greenification?, and this can be clearly seen all around us. In 2003, Dubai only had 191,655 square metres of greenery with 63,237 trees, but by 2012 we saw the results of our efforts and have increased the green spaces to 105,340 trees that covers an area of 529,827 square metres,? Julfar added.
The official sources said that part of the department?s strategies include planting trees along busy highways and in wildlife sanctuaries, with Julfar pointing out that the municipality?s nurseries have increased the number of plants they grow, from 19.887mn in 2003 to 34.127mn in 2012.
