Damen Shipyards Antalya held a special event to mark World Environment Day on June 5th this year. Damen Shipyards Group has a keen focus on sustainability; the company’s mission is to become the world’s most sustainable shipbuilder.
Initially, the Antalya yard had intended to arrange an extensive beach clean-up operation, inviting employees and their families to participate. However, as a result of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, it was decided that it was not currently safe to do so.
Still wishing to do something to commemorate World Environment Day, Damen Shipyards Antalya decided instead to hold a corona-safe event. Staff at the yard came up with the idea for an event entitled ‘the Environment in my Dreams.’
For this, the children of yard personnel painted pictures that represented to them the ideal environment – free from the effects of environmental devastation. The paintings have been placed on display at the yard, where they will remain for the coming two weeks in order to raise the profile of environmental issues and remind people of the reason behind Damen’s mission.
Cagla Oren, Damen Shipyards Antalya’s environmental officer, said of the event, “We really wanted to do something to celebrate World Environment Day. Global sustainability is our first priority at Damen so we want to be involved, to take action, in improving the environment in any way we can. Unfortunately, the coronavirus pandemic prevent us from realising our initial plans on this occasion, but with the ‘the Environment in my Dreams’ we found a way to continue. This way we honour our principles and help to raise environmental awareness for the next generation. In the future we hope to continue with our beach clean-up plans – with the help of our budding artists of course!”