BASSETERRE, St. Kitts, June 09.2018 – AS the region joins the rest of the world in recognizing yesterday (June 08) World Ocean Day, Secretary General of CARICOM, Ambassador Irwin LaRocque believes that the region needs to pause and focus on its ocean resources and the threat of plastic pollution.
Delivering an addressing to recognize today’s World Ocean Day and Environmental Day, which was held on June 05, LacRoque explained that this year’s themes - “Beat Plastic Pollution” (World Environment Day) and “Preventing plastic pollution and encouraging solutions for a healthy ocean” (World Oceans Day) – points to the growing alarm of plastic pollution.
Figures provided by the United Nations (UN) show a stark reality that over 13 million tonnes of plastic leaked into the oceans each year, with 100,000 marine animals killed by the materials annually.
According to the Ambassador, projections have shown that plastic production will double in the next 10 to 15 years, which means that if the world continues with a “Business as Usual scenario” there will be more plastics than fish in the ocean by 2050.
“The UN is warning that plastic pollution now stands as one of the biggest environmental challenges of our time. The CARICOM Region recognized that this is indeed a major threat. Through the work of CARICOM technical agencies, especially the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA), initiatives for the management of plastics to reduce the impacts on the environment have been undertaken.”
A number of agencies are undertaking ongoing marine litter management programmes, including CARPHA and the UN Environment Programme - Caribbean Regional Coordinating Unit (UNEP/CAR-RCU).
Though plans are in place through those agencies to minimize pollution, Ambassador LaRocque disclosed that there are concerns over data which informs that five trillion plastic bags are used each year and one million plastic bottles are bought each minute – of that amount, 50% of all consumer plastics are single use.
“It is evident therefore that we need to look meaningfully at our consumption and production patterns. At the regional level tackling this issue which threatens both marine and human well-being requires the cooperation and collaboration of both public and private sectors together with our academic institutions and civil society, especially our consumer and youth groups.”
Against that backdrop, the Secretary-General pointed out that it is evident that a concerted effort at the regional and national levels will be needed to provide greater buy-in to address the issue of plastic waste management.
Further, he said that consumers will no doubt play an important role especially as it relates to single use plastics.
