DHAKA: Bangladesh is observing the ‘Earth Hour’ along with over 150 countries by turning off its all non-essential lights for an hour from 8:30pm.

The event is a worldwide movement for the planet organized by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF).

“Earth Hour aims to encourage an interconnected global community to share the opportunities and challenges of creating a sustainable world,” WWF says.

“It is so much more than just switching off lights. The vision is always to do more, so make the light switch the start of your journey,” they said.

“It is about people from all walks of life coming together throughout the year to show what they can do to protect the planet,” co-founder of the movement Andy Ridley said.

The first Earth Hour event was on March 31, 2007 in Sydney where more than 2.2m people and 2,000 businesses supported climate change action.

Since then it has grown to engage more than 7000 cities and towns worldwide, and the one-hour event continues to remain the key driver of the now larger movement.

The event is held worldwide and held towards the end of March annually, encouraging individuals, communities, households and businesses to turn off their non-essential lights for one hour as a symbol for their commitment to the planet.

BDST: 2030 HRS, Mar 29, 2014