The mangroves in Abu Dhabi have taken another step to keep the environment in check and coming together with Etihad Airways, it has launched the Etihad Mangrove Forest.

In collaboration with Environment Agency — Abu Dhabi, the launch of the Abu Dhabi Mangrove Initiative aims to conserve the trees to address the climate crisis and safeguard precious biodiversity.

Established on Jubail Island in the UAE capital, the Etihad Airways project will help to remove carbon from the atmosphere.

What makes the initiative even more interesting is that now travellers, businesses and people alike can adopt a mangrove in the Etihad Mangrove Forest as a way to help lower their carbon footprint.

One can adopt a tree by paying Dh18.50 ($5) per tree and can also track it online with the help of a dedicated app. Adopters will receive a unique code that identifies the particular shrub they have adopted as well as its geolocation within the evergreen forest.

The fees collected from the adoption will then be assembled into a common fund that will be used to work towards environmental causes in the region including collecting seeds, operating a mangrove nursery, planting new trees, and also taking care of the existing shrubs at the Jubail Island site.

While the access and adoption to the Etihad Mangrove Forest are virtual at present, the airline plans to allow adopters to visit the site and eventually plant their own mangrove seedlings in future.

Adopters of the trees through the virtual adoption will be granted 10 years of access and they will also be able to name them. During the decade of ownership, they can virtually drop into the forest from anywhere in the world to see how their adopted trees are doing or even keep a tab on how much carbon dioxide their plant is absorbing.

Not just that, the airline also plans to create forests around the world, with one in every continent, and eventually in almost every country that it flies to.