Majid Al Futtaim—the leading shopping mall, communities, retail and leisure pioneer across the Middle East, Africa and Asia—is highlighting the region’s pressing need to conserve water through the new ‘One drop means a lot’ initiative in its malls in the UAE.

In line with the Net Positive commitments launched earlier in 2017, which aim to significantly reduce the company’s water consumption and carbon emissions, resulting in a positive corporate footprint by 2040, all of Majid Al Futtaim’s malls in the UAE use water-saving practices that result in an overall water use reduction of 16 and 11 percent in 2014 and 2015 respectively. The ‘One drop means a lot’ campaign empowers visitors at Mall of the Emirates, City Centres Deira, Mirdif, Me’aisem, Al Shindagha and My City Centre Al Barsha in Dubai; and City Centres Sharjah, Ajman, Fujairah, My City Centre Nasseriya and Matajers Al Quoz, Al Khan, Al Mirgab and Al Juraina in the Northern Emirates to reduce their water consumption through raising awareness of their daily consumption including personal hygiene, household cleaning, and car washing.

Majid Al Futtaim recently surveyed more than 7,000 shoppers in the UAE and Oman about their level of concern for key environmental issues. Survey results showed that 78% of participants were highly concerned or concerned about water consumption, with water shortages ranking as the most significant concern over climate change, energy usage, protection of natural resources, and the effect of transportation on the environment.

According to the Federal Electricity and Water Authority, the average UAE resident uses 550 litres of water per day, in comparison to the average of 170-300 litres per day consumed internationally, making it one of the highest water consumers in the world, at double the global national average. Furthermore, the UAE accounts for 14% of the world’s desalinated water. The consumption in villas can go up to 1,710 litres per person per day. Experts have raised concerns that the UAE may run out of groundwater by 2030 – currently, more than 70% of water used in the UAE comes from groundwater.

“Only by increasing awareness on the need to conserve the UAE’s water resources can we make a difference in our collective attitudes and behaviour – this is the objective that Majid Al Futtaim is determined to achieve through the ‘One drop means a lot’ campaign. Our shoppers have underscored their level of concern about potential water shortages through a recent survey, and as Majid Al Futtaim malls have been focused on sustainability and water conservation at a corporate and shopping mall level, this campaign widens our scope to the community, ensuring that we are all playing a part in reducing our personal water usage,” said Fuad Mansoor Sharaf, Managing Director for Majid Al Futtaim Properties, Shopping Malls (UAE, Bahrain & Oman)

According to “Strategy&”, an arm of auditing firm PricewaterhouseCoopers, UAE consumes between 10 and 39 times the amount of renewable water available to it, depleting their resources at a much faster rate than it can be replenished by rainfall. The report highlights that focusing on irrigation efficiency by promoting xeriscaping, which is a form of landscaping that uses native, drought-resistant plants that are succulent, and water-saving techniques, and the use of grey water recycling to irrigate gardens would prevent water wastage.

Stay tuned on the mall’s social media pages for news of upcoming activations, activities and workshops kicking off in 2018 for ‘One drop means a lot’ campaign.