This year's haj is leaving a smaller carbon footprint than before due to pandemic constraints. FMTNews
Hundreds of Muslim pilgrims circle the Kaaba as they observe social distancing in Mecca on Wednesday.
The procession of so many worshippers, over a short time and in a limited space, results in an assault on the desert kingdom’s delicate environment. But for environmental activist Nouhad Awwad, it’s not so much the size of the crowd that determines the impact on the environment but more “our collective behaviour”.
Even the pebbles they use to symbolically “stone the devil” have been sanitised, as part of elaborate amenity kits provided by authorities that include disinfectant and masks. “Large numbers of workers had to be mobilised to remove all the debris they left behind as they passed,” he recalled.Until recently, the environment was not a central concern of Saudi Arabia when it came to the haj.
This year, despite the relatively tiny number of pilgrims, the municipality deployed more than 13,000 cleaners to the holy sites, equipped with hundreds of skips, according to an official statement.Awwad said that although this year’s haj is leaving a small environmental footprint because of the constraints generated by the global pandemic, in the future the same outcome must be achieved by choice.
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