As the waves hit the shores of the beaches in Kuwait, a team of divers plunges into the sea to lift a sunken ship and remove debris. Fishermen often leave their fishing nets in the water without realizing the effect they have on marine life. These men and women who protect our ecosystem from being destroyed by pollution that we humans cause are the Kuwait Dive Team.

Established in 1986, the Kuwait Dive Team (KDT) has been trying to achieve three goals to make Kuwait's waters friendly to marine life, while also building a marine ecosystem: Rescue, Rehabilitation and Raising Awareness. "While rescuing and rehabilitating marine life is done by expert divers, the natural meeting point for a diver and a non-diver are the various environmental campaigns that are organized by our voluntary foundation," said Dr Dari Alhuwail, International Relations Officer of Kuwait Dive Team.

Coral reefs

There are many coral reefs around the islands in Kuwait. These coral reefs need special care, so KTD, besides getting rid of tons of harmful waste, also moors buoys to protect these reefs. "Often certain areas of these naturally existing reefs are destroyed. To help them regrow, we at KTD install artificial reefs and monitor their growth continuously. These reefs need constant attention and supervision as fishermen habitually lower their anchors or get rid of their fishing nets around the reefs," Alhuwail said.

There is a lot of marine life near Kuwait that we are unaware of. Protecting these reefs is very important so that they don't face what the world's biggest coral reef - the Great Barrier Reef - is facing. Cleaning beaches regularly is very important - not only the shores, but also the debris that floats in the water, as many marine creatures get stuck or die due to suffocation or consumption.

Awareness campaigns

Every item has an underwater biodegradation half-life - cardboard boxes take two months while paper towels and newspapers take four and six weeks to degrade respectively. Hard plastic bottle caps take 400 years, while glass bottles take forever to break down.

In Kuwait, people often forget about the environment while they are busy working and making a life for themselves. So awareness campaigns and regional workshops are very important to let people know about the damage that is caused by a small piece of plastic that is left on the shores or thrown in the water. "We document our work and make it available on social media so that people can see it and use it for their research or become a part of this initiative," Alhuwail concluded.

MW6INY

MW6INY was established in the summer of 2017 after Latifa Al-Wazzan attended a UNESCO training program on sustainable education. Being a teacher and instructor at Kuwait University who has an excessive interest in sustainability, Wazzan was nominated to attend the course. "After attending the course, I grew curious about how I could learn more and implement it here in Kuwait, which led me to attend an environment awareness sustainability workshop at Shaheed Park. At the workshop, they gave attendees the opportunity to submit a proposal on the matter, which would be sponsored through a grant. I submitted one, and that's how MW6INY started," Wazzan said.

"MW6INY strives to create change, make a difference and influence others through its work. Under the umbrella of the Environmental Voluntary Foundation (EVF) which was established in 2011, Kuwait Dive Team along with MW6INY have been organizing trial beach cleanups where team leaders from various organizations are trained on how to organize and monitor beach cleanups, bearing in mind the importance of proper attire while being a part of such campaigns," she said.

"We recently held a beach cleanup for public school students, who along with their parents, participated over the weekend. Usually, schools take students on a trip; but this activity, which was not a part of the school requirement, inspired children to help save Earth from pollution and gave them a sense of the importance of such events," Wazzan explained.

On September 15, 2018, Kuwait for the first time officially participated in the World Cleanup Day which kick-started the Yistahil Watany (#yishatil_w6any) campaign. The campaign ends with a nationwide beach cleanup on Nov 9, 2018 from 1 pm to 4.30 pm.

By Ramona Crasto