A website promoting the preservation of the environment was launched yesterday through the initiative of three Bahraini youths with the assistance of the Directorate of Environment Affairs, writes Abdulrahman Fakhri.
The website, Environment Electronic Friends (www.eef.org.bh), is the first in the region which is fully dedicated to promoting environment-friendly ideals and spreads awareness through extensive Arabic and English sections.
Khawla Fadhil, Hussain Al Nasir and Nidhal Badir dedicated their efforts to work on the website during their spare time with the information gathered through the Directorate.
The site, carrying the slogan “We’ve set the show, but together we’ll grow”, aims at attracting members who will take part in developing the website by any means possible in order to promote the preservation of the environment.
Speaking at the launch of the website held at the directorate’s premises on the Exhibition Avenue, the Director of Environment Affairs, Khalid Fakhro, said that the website came solely through the efforts of a group of youths who have great concern in preserving the environment and spreading awareness on environmental issues.
“There are a lot of valuable information provided through the website which has been designed as a reflection of the youths outlook on issues concerning the environment,” said Fakhro. “We hope that this site would be accessed by visitors from all over the world due to the good presentation of the site and the valuable information it contains.”
Khawla Al Fadhil, who first had the idea, said that the website’s main objective is to reach as many people as possible by sending a message that the preservation of the environment is everybody’s responsibility.
The site was to be launched during the celebration of the Environment Day last month but due to some technical difficulties it was postponed.
“What has inspired me to design this webpage was the strong message that was carried out during the Environment Day under the slogan ‘It’s Time to Act’,” said Khawla. “I felt that the environment is an important issue which needs to be promoted and felt that I had the capabilities to do something about it.”
Khawla, along with Hussain and Nidhal, who are all members of the Internet Club, then set out designing the website and gathering information with the assistance of the Directorate.
Hussain said the process of designing the website took two months. “Due to the great importance the website carries, we dedicated our time and efforts to send out an important message in an attractive website.”
The designing process continue until late hours in the evening which Nidhal said was very difficult to adjust to in the beginning.
“We all either work or study and our engagements have sometimes stood in the way of putting in more hours. However, through our determination and belief in what we we were doing, we dedicated most of our time to this important project,” said Nidhal.
The website is divided into Arabic and English sections and consists of three main areas, namely dangers of car emissions, curbing the use of plastic bags and a section dedicated to children.
“The first two areas were issues highlighted by the Directorate during the Environment Day celebrations which we felt had great importance and relevance to issues concerning Bahrain,” said Khawla.
The sections offer facts and statistics related to these issues aimed at offering a complete picture of the situation.
The website offers messages and pictures depicting the problems as well as an international news archive offering information on all environmental issues.
The user-friendly website also offers various competitions and cartoons centred on environmental issues as well as links to various environment-based websites.
The children’s section carries messages on the importance of caring for the environment in a simple manner with many pictures covering natural sites and environmental hazards.
“We still have plans to further develop the website such as adding a place for discussion groups and a message box,” said Hussain.