Environment

HSBC launches the first Public Garden, first of kind by Private Sector in cooperation with Hikmat Road Safety

Under the patronage of H.E Mayor of Amman, HSBC Bank Jordan established the first Public Garden to be financed by the Private Sector through Hikmat Road Safety and in cooperation with Greater Amman Municipality in Zahran area. This initiative comes under HSBC's Corporate Sustainability Programmes.

The HSBC Garden aims to provide an ideal space for children living in that area to play and engage in meaningful recreational activities. In the past, the only space available for children to play was the street, which resulted in deadly accidents.

HSBC Bank Jordan, made the commitment to plant a vast green area within the Garden in order to support environmental sustainability, and create awareness among the community about environmental issues.

Karen Adams, CEO of HSBC Bank Jordan said: “Taking action to minimize the effect of climate change, while at the same time providing a safe haven for children to play is of paramount importance. Our partnership with Hikmat Road Safety Program has been successful at integrating our social and environmental values into a project that will have long-term effects on the local community."

Under the patronage of H.E Mayor of Amman Engineer Omar Ma'ani, HSBC Garden was inaugurated by Simon Cooper, CEO of HSBC Bank Middle East Limited, and Karen Adams, CEO of HSBC Jordan. While inaugurating the Garden, Mr. Cooper remarked on this multi-faceted initiative: “HSBC Garden, not only addresses the issue of road safety, but also raises awareness among the local community on environment and climate change being real issues that pose a significant challenge to us all. Through this initiative, we are protecting children from road accident hazards and doing our part in beginning to address environmental challenges through constant 'green' awareness."

Mr. Maher Kaddoura, the founder of HRS, stated: " We are happy with HSBC's initiative to support the launch of the first pocket park in our programme. HSBC's commitment towards our community is the model for others to emulate ensuring safer living environment for our children."

The completion of this project was due to the contribution of Water Authority providing the land, in addition to Traffic Department which facilitated the transportation from and to the Garden.

HSBC in the Middle East

HSBC is the largest and most widely represented international bank in the Middle East. HSBC Bank Middle East Limited has 44 branches throughout the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait, Jordan, Lebanon, Pakistan and the Palestinian Autonomous Area. In addition to the branch network, the bank maintains representative offices in Tehran, Iran and Tripoli, Libya. This extensive regional coverage is strengthened by another member of the HSBC Group, HSBC Bank Egypt SAE, and by its associated companies: The Saudi British Bank; British Arab Commercial Bank Limited; HSBC Saudi Arabia Limited; SABB Securities Limited; SABB Takaful Co.; and Dar Es Saalam Investment Bank.

About Hikmat Road Safety

Hikmat Road Safety is an organization founded by Mr Maher Qaddoura with the aim of protecting innocent lives from traffic accidents. Its objective is to provide help and support to civil communities and government entities to decrease the number of Killed and Seriously Injured through traffic accidents. The main areas of focus at Hikmat Road Safety are creating safer schools, safer streets and safer communities through financing safer roads designs and implementing in cooperation with Greater Amman Municipality and the Central Traffic Directorate.

The Year Long Environment Project at Bayoudah Village Concludes Successfully with the Support of HSBC Bank Jordan

This project received the Green Apple Award, an international award given to projects that made a significant environmental transformation in local communities

HSBC Bank Middle East Limited Jordan recently concluded the year-long Bayoudah Permaculture Development Project.

The project, implemented through Care International commenced in August of 2007, and concluded more than one year later in December of 2008. The project aimed at establishing locally based skills to perform viable permaculture techniques to improve water management in the village, located in the Balqa'a Governate. The project ultimately received the Green Apple Award for environmental stewardship, an international award given to projects that have made a significant transformation in local communities.

The overall goal of the project was to establish resource and energy conserving (including human energy) landscapes that were agriculturally productive, that took into account and mimicked, as much as possible, relationships and processes found in the natural environment, which approached the diversity, stability and resilience found in natural ecosystems. The underlying philosophy was that the villagers were a part of the natural environment and not separate from it, and that they had to work with nature and its processes, rather than against it.

The project, with the support of HSBC Jordan, accomplished all of its objectives, while all together achieving a shift in the mindsets of the villagers involved in the project. The completely renovated training centre housed all of the lectures and instructional seminars to educate villagers on water conservation techniques and modern agricultural practices. HSBC Bank also supported training workshops, which opened up dialogue between government officials and villagers, in addition to expanding the reach of the project to incorporate other villages in the Governate.

Permaculture techniques taught during the project, such as the establishment of duck houses, green houses, rainwater harvesting systems, grey water systems and compost systems, were realized through meticulous implementation by the villagers throughout the year long project. What was achieved as a result of these methods and practices was the production of high quality natural fertilizers that could be sold or utilized by the villagers during farming.

“The core of this project is to demonstrate sustainable practices to improve the livelihood of the local rural population. It is through projects such as this, that we empower communities to become key stakeholders in their future" said Karen Adams, CEO of HSBC Jordan. Throughout the project, members of HSBC Jordan's team continuously visited the village to observe the progress being made.

Bayoudah has become a prime example of the far-reaching sustainability of permaculture practices to improve the livelihoods of the local agricultural communities. Through the generous support of HSBC Jordan to the village of Bayoudah, local communities can now utilize sustainable water conservation practices and farming techniques to improve their livelihood, and ultimately their future.

HSBC Launches an Environmental Awareness Initiative in Primary Schools Across Jordan

As part of HSBC's sustainability commitments, HSBC Jordan launched their latest environmental awareness initiative targeted at primary school students across the country.

HSBC Bank in cooperation with author "Kathy Hoopmann" and illustrator "Donna Acheson-Julliet" presented "Omar's Goats", a children's environmental educational book for Primary schools students.

"Omar's Goats" Book through its innovative and interactive approach has been developed to engage students from 4-8 years in the subject matter. Environmental Awareness

The book comes with a useful teacher's handbook which gives factual information about environmental issues and includes class work suggestions, activity sheets for students and a section encouraging parents to get involved.

The book has been launched in many schools for students aged 4-8 years in order to increase their environmental awareness; HSBC Jordan also held a reading session for staff's children at "Hakawati book store". The story also was distributed to the children at SOS village as well.

Available in English and Arabic, "Omar's Goats" the story uses local characters and native animals to enable teachers and students to learn about simple solutions to protect the environment.