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Three more nations join UN Environment's Clean Seas campaign
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IANS | 17 Mar, 2019
Three more nations -- Antigua and Barbuda, Trinidad and Tobago and
Paraguay -- on Friday joined UN Environment's Clean Seas campaign,
bringing the number of countries now involved in the world's largest
alliance for combating marine plastic pollution to 60.
The three
nations signed up during the Fourth UN Environment Assembly in Nairobi
where more than 4,700 delegates from 170 countries were meeting to
hammer out new guidelines to lessen the speed of the planet's depleted
resources.
Launched in 2017, the Clean Seas campaign works with
governments, businesses and citizens to eliminate the needless use of
disposable plastics and protect the oceans and rivers from a toxic tide
of pollution that is endangering livelihoods and killing wildlife.
The alliance now covers more than 60 per cent of the world's coastlines.
Antigua
and Barbuda banned single-use plastic bags in 2016, becoming the first
country in the region to do so. The island nation is now working to
eliminate polystyrene products, which it hopes to achieve over the
coming year.
It is also looking to expand its recycling capacity and extend a scheme for collecting and recycling plastic bottles.
"Since
introducing the region's first ban on single-use plastic bags in 2016,
Antigua and Barbuda has been a pioneer in the fight against marine
plastic pollution. We are delighted to join the Clean Seas campaign and
share our drive and experience with other nations so that together we
can take decisive action to turn this toxic tide that threatens
livelihoods, wildlife and the survival of our oceans," Minister for
Health, Wellness and the Environment in Antigua and Barbuda Molwyn
Joseph said.
Landlocked Paraguay has committed to clean its polluted rivers, starting in the capital Asuncion.
Among
Trinidad and Tobago's top priorities is reinforcing its waste
management system while also educating the population about the need to
separate household waste.
According to UN Environment, every year
around eight million tonnes of plastic ends up in the oceans, poisoning
fish, birds and other sea creatures.
That's the equivalent of
one garbage truck of litter being dumped into the sea every minute.
Plastic waste, in the form of microplastics, has also entered the human
food chain, and the consequences are not yet fully understood.
Awareness
of the need to act decisively against plastic pollution has been
growing in Latin America and the Caribbean -- a region that is
particularly vulnerable to marine litter and other environmental threats
caused by our changing climate, such as increasingly powerful storms.
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