AMMAN // The UN launched an awareness campaign last week that seeks to replace flimsy, disposable grocery store-style plastic bags with fabric ones amid hopes such a move will cut down on unnecessary waste and decrease the bags' harmful effect on the environment.
The measure was part of a UN commemoration of World Environment Day, which is marked on June 5. Paper and fabric bags were distributed free of charge in three main shopping outlets in Amman, Zarqa and Irbid, the country's most densely populated cities, along with posters that urged citizens to "save the environment."
Paper bags are recyclable and take only a month to decompose. Fabric bags are durable and reusable.
Each year, about three billion plastic bags are used in Jordan. Their production and disposal - whether in rubbish bins or on the street - creates litter, damages the soil, consumes energy, and clogs water treatment systems. Bags even threaten marine life in Aqaba, where they are blown into the Red Sea, suffocating coral life and killing fish and turtles who might ingest them, environmentalists said.
Bags deplete natural resources and need up to 1,000 years to decompose. If the polyethylene, the petroleum product plastic bags are made of, is not disposed of properly, when it breaks down it becomes toxic, leaks into the soil and enters the food chain.
"Plastic bags constitute a serious and highly visible environmental problem for Jordan, where the increasingly urbanised population of more than six million people is contributing to the negative environmental impact of plastic bags and hereby also reducing the possibility of Jordan achieving Goal 7 on environmental sustainability," Luc Stevens, the UN resident coordinator in Jordan, said in a statement.
Goal 7, one of the UN Millennium Development Goals, seeks to ensure global environmental sustainability by 2015.
"The threat towards Jordan's environment is very real and the situation will only worsen unless habits are changed. Everyone can make a difference and it is our hope that Environment Day will raise awareness on the impact plastic bags have on the environment and that people will understand how they can help make a real difference."
But changing attitudes may not be an easy task. Plastic bags are commonly used in Jordan mainly because of their cheap production cost, which hovers between 0.10 Jordanian fils and 0.30 fils (Dh0.0005 and Dh0.001), according to the ministry of environment.
Safeway alone spends US$1 million (Dh3.67m) a year on 350,000 kilograms of plastic bags, "which results in waste", said Laith Abu Hilal, the company's chief commercial officer in Jordan.
What compounds the problem is the absence of laws that regulate the use of disposable plastic bags, little environmental awareness on their hazards, the absence of fees on plastic bags for consumers and because fines on littering on the streets are not seriously enforced, according to the UN.
But the government itself cannot count on people to reduce the use of plastic bags, said Abdul Rahman Sultan, the deputy director of Friends of the Earth Middle East, a non-governmental organisation active in environmental peacemaking. "Citizens themselves should be concerned about their environment and their own health. We need national campaigns. Citizens should have personal judgment and have a sense of responsibility."
Sammar Sawalha, 33, a housewife, said she would start using fabric bags when she heard of the campaign while shopping for groceries. "I don't like plastic bags. I am already aware that they harm the environment. Actually, the fabric bags look better."
Inas, 35, said she would not use fabric bags because she cannot be troubled to take them with her each time she wants to shop. "And if they get dirty, it will be a hassle to wash them. I find it easier to carry plastic bags instead of fabric."
Hazem Malhas, the minister of environment, who joined the UN efforts in distributing fabric and paper bags, told schoolchildren how his grandmother used a hay basket for shopping at a time plastic bags were not available.
"The fabric bags remind me of my grandmother's basket. She used to take the basket with her when she bought fruits," he told a group of schoolchildren who donned white-T-shirts saying "Go Green".
The government is intent on cutting down on the use of plastic bags.
"A draft policy is in place," said Mohammad Khashneh, the director of the chemicals and waste management directorate at the environment ministry. "One of the scenarios is to impose taxes on plastic bags. We have not specified the taxes though, but this measure requires cabinet approval."
Other scenarios include raising public awareness about the hazards of the plastic bags, including banning black plastic because they contain toxic material that could ultimately enter the food chain, he said.
@Email:smaayeh@thenational.ae
At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
UAE Tour 2020
Stage 1: The Pointe Palm Jumeirah - Dubai Silicon Oasis, 148km
Stage 2: Hatta - Hatta Dam, 168km
Stage 3: Al Qudra Cycle Track - Jebel Hafeet, 184km
Stage 4: Zabeel Park - Dubai City Walk, 173km
Stage 5: Al Ain - Jebel Hafeet, 162km
Stage 6: Al Ruwais - Al Mirfa, 158km
Stage 7: Al Maryah Island - Abu Dhabi Breakwater, 127km
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
Libya's Gold
UN Panel of Experts found regime secretly sold a fifth of the country's gold reserves.
The panel’s 2017 report followed a trail to West Africa where large sums of cash and gold were hidden by Abdullah Al Senussi, Qaddafi’s former intelligence chief, in 2011.
Cases filled with cash that was said to amount to $560m in 100 dollar notes, that was kept by a group of Libyans in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.
A second stash was said to have been held in Accra, Ghana, inside boxes at the local offices of an international human rights organisation based in France.
The National's picks
4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young
The specs: 2018 Nissan 370Z Nismo
The specs: 2018 Nissan 370Z Nismo
Price, base / as tested: Dh182,178
Engine: 3.7-litre V6
Power: 350hp @ 7,400rpm
Torque: 374Nm @ 5,200rpm
Transmission: Seven-speed automatic
Fuel consumption, combined: 10.5L / 100km
