Employees of the OEM volunteer to plant endangered Ghaf trees at Al Barari, Dubai.
Khaleej Times reports that 2,939 Ghaf trees were planted at the Give a Ghaf planting session in Dubai, with Canon Middle East employees and their families helping to plant Ghaf seeds at the city’s Al Barari Nursery, a 1.2 million square-foot farm holding more than 800 species of plants.
The OEM partnered with the Middle East’s first online green business directory, Goumbook.com, whose Give a Ghaf initiative was launched at the beginning of this year to “educate and inspire end-users on the environment and to give back to the community”.
Known as the UAE’s national tree since 2008, Ghaf trees have become endangered, with only one in 5,000 seeds ever taking root due to insects. The increasing urbanisation of the country has also meant that few Ghaf trees remain, despite their “aesthetic, cultural and ecological significance” to the country. The evergreen is native to the UAE and is able to tolerate drought conditions.
Canon Middle East took part in the planting as part of its Corporate Social Responsibility development, with the OEM pledging to plant a Ghaf tree for every energy efficient inkjet printer, laser printer, toner cartridge, photo lens and calculator product sold at National Stores showrooms in the UAE during the first quarter of 2013.
Over 100 people took the time to plant the Ghaf seeds, including the Managing Director of Canon Middle East, Anurag Agrawal, who said: “We have stayed true to the spirit of ‘Kyosei’ (meaning living and working together for the common good) with the ‘Give a Ghaf’ initiative which is testament to our efforts to make a positive contribution to the society we operate in.”