Calls to eradicate plastic pollution as world marks environment day
GOOBJOOG NEWS: As the world marks the World Environment Day 2023, it is estimated that 19-23 million tonnes of plastic waste are dumped in lakes, rivers and seas across the world annually.
United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) leads the world in marking the annual event and warns that discarded single-use plastic harms human health, the economy, the environment and threatens sustainable development.
This year’s theme is #BeatPlasticPollution which provides an opportunity to raise the volume on the call for governments, cities and businesses to invest in and implement solutions to ending plastic pollution.
During the recently concluded second session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee to develop an international legally binding instrument on plastic pollution, including in the marine environment held in Paris France, Somalia challenged producers and manufacturers of plastics products to stop the use of hazardous and toxic additives in their products and to change their process designs to produce recyclable plastics.
In a statement, the Federal Government of Somalia also urged the industries and companies to collect their plastic waste and recycle it in environmentally safe manner on the basis of polluter pay principles.
Public Awareness
Somalia’s Ministry of Environment has on its part raised public awareness and pushed for the adaptation and implementation of technology in environmental conservation.
“Somalia government stands ready to partner the rest of the world to engage in negotiations towards an implementable international legally binding instrument to end plastic pollution. To this end, we seek to develop an instrument that takes an ambitious, innovative, and traditional solution to combating plastic pollution throughout its lifecycle,” a Somali government official said.
The World Environment Day which has been marked on 5 June since 1973, has grown to become one of the biggest global platforms for environmental outreach, with millions of people across the world engaging to protect the planet.
The African Development Bank (AfDB) is leading the continent in marking this year’s event in Côte d’Ivoire with calls on African countries to adopt more strict policies to downscale pollution caused by plastics.
Somalia has seen a transformation in environmental conservation with the formation of a full Ministry of Environment, unlike previous years where it only had a directorate.
- By Fauxile Kibet