Earth Hour to be observed tonight, no ban on vehicles

Ministry of Environment and Energy has decided not to place a ban on vehicles as the country observes the international Earth Hour tonight, officials revealed at a press conference today.

“We have two reasons. Firstly; public complaints increase when we place a ban. Secondly, there is certainly a personal responsibility in a noble initiative such as this? It must to be done voluntarily,” Environment Ministry’s Director General Ahmed Ali said.

The Ministry, along with the Earth Hour Maldives initiative and Male’ City Council have urged the public to reduce consumption of electricity between 8:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. tonight.

“We strongly urge all residents in Male’ to reduce the consumption of electricity as much as possible. We call to turn off the lights, but the lights alone will not make much of a difference. We strongly urge everyone to turn off all electrical devices,” Male’ City Council member Samau Shareef said, speaking at the press conference today.

A number of environment awareness programs have been scheduled for this evening, including an information session titled “Earth Hour Evening” for students and young people from 4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m., along with an Earth Hour Countdown Show at 8:00 p.m.

A global movement by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) to raise awareness on environmental issues, the international Earth Hour is observed annually on the last Saturday of March.