Dubai, Oct 6 (IANS): The Indian Ladies Association (ILA), a United Arab Emirates (UAE)-based community welfare body, has launched a year-long mission to protect the environment through a series of initiatives, including collection of discarded paper, e-waste, cleaning of beaches and tree planting in Abu Dhabi.

In an interview with Gulf News, Sunita Wagle, President of the ILA, said on Sunday: "We just collected 500 kg of paper from the community. It included used office papers, magazines, books, paper bags, notebooks, textbooks and newspapers copies."

The ILA has committed to run sustainable environmentally friendly and social awareness campaigns in the community each month and this would continue throughout the year to educate people about the environment and seek their participation in making the world a greener place.

"By the end of October, we will launch our plantation drive to encourage people to plant ghaf and neem trees. We will plant the trees and arrange for their regular irrigation.

"The ILA just provides a platform to the community to come forward and participate in the environmentally friendly campaigns," Wagle added.

The ILA is one of the five Indian community organisations in Abu Dhabi which are registered with the UAE's Ministry of Community Development.

It was also planning to spread environmental awareness among labourers. As part of the mission, the ILA will visit labour camps to give saplings to workers to plant.

"We are in the process of obtaining permission from the concerned labour camps," Wagle told Gulf News.