Mozambique: Happy belated 65th anniversary dear Gorongosa National Park!
Mozambique: Government reiterates commitment to ban plastic bags
1:28 CAT | 19 Sep 2022
Photo: Ministério da Terra e Ambiente
The Mozambican government reiterates its commitment to ban permanently the use of plastic bags throughout the country due to the danger they pose to the environment.
To this end, according to the Minister of Land and Environment, Ivete Maibaze, a consultation process is already underway with the main stakeholders in the process of production, import and use of the plastic bags, with a view to reducing the damage they cause to the environment, biodiversity and public health.
“The Bill is still being socialised at the government level, we expect to pass the Bill soon. Right now we are interacting with different stakeholders, from academia, private sector, civil society and others to decide the best way to ban plastic bags in our country,” she explained.
Maibaze, who was speaking on the Costa do Sol beach as part of the celebrations of World Clean-up Day, stressed that although the Bill is still in the consultation phase there is a regulation in force that promotes management and use of plastic bags. It also defines the guidelines for use of plastic bags, production or disposal in the environment.
Regarding the celebrations, Maibaze underlined that every year Mozambique reports an increasing number of participants.
To better illustrate, she said that in 2018, about 100,000 volunteers participated in the event, 300,000 in 2019; 50,000 in 2020 and 250,000 in 2021 which has been making Mozambique a reference at the level of the African continent.
“We are satisfied with these figures but will not settle down. We want to encourage everyone to mobilise more friends, more volunteers so that next year we can increase these numbers and ensure that by 2024 Mozambique reaches the top in this civic exercise,” she declared
For his turn, the Mayor of Maputo City Eneas Comiche stressed that the participation of people from all walks of life in the clean-up campaign will increase awareness of the consequences of improper disposal of solid waste.
In addition, he said, it will help disseminate messages about the importance of cleaning beaches, public places, and preservation of trees which greatly contribute to the beauty of the Mozambican capital.
“I would like to relaunch my challenge to all partners present here, for us to work as an advance party in this battle against environmental damage, by pooling more resources to education and civic awareness, in parallel with investments directed at the efficiency of services provided in the area of waste disposal” Comiche said.
Another action that should deserve attention, according to the mayor, is the promotion of strategies to reduce valuable waste, by the massification and facilitation of reuse and recycling initiatives.
Comiche also reiterated the commitment of municipal authorities to materialize the project to build a new municipal landfill in KaTembe district, on the other side of Maputo bay.
According to him, this infrastructure is crucial to close the Hulene Municipal Landfill, which is now operating in a safer environment thanks to the introduction of new equipment.
World Cleanup Day is a civic movement, uniting 180 countries and millions of people across the world to clean up the planet in one day. On this day volunteers and partners worldwide come together to rid our planet of trash – cleaning up litter and mismanaged waste from our beaches, rivers, forests, and streets.
Also in attendance were the United Nations Resident Coordinator in Mozambique, Myrta Kaulard; the representative of the European Union (EU) in Mozambique, Antonino Maggiore, officials of the municipality, among others joined the campaign.
“É ambição da @EUinMoz estar na linha da frente para estancar a poluição do ambiente marinho; (…) O nosso trabalho não termina aqui, protejamos melhor o oceano ao evitar o lixo na praia”
–@MaggioreEU, Embaixador da 🇪🇺 em 🇲🇿, durante a limpeza de praia #EUBeachCleanUp #ActNow pic.twitter.com/txNV03XsST
— ONU Moçambique (@ONUMocambique) September 17, 2022
“A maior riqueza de Moçambique é a natureza – o excepcional ecossistema de florestas, rios e oceano, as longas e extraordinárias praias e dunas; A natureza é fonte de biodiversidade essencial para a vida e devemos protegê-la”
– Myrta Kaulard, Chefe da #ONU🇲🇿, na #EUBeachCleanUp pic.twitter.com/Xj9DPbuO5c
— ONU Moçambique (@ONUMocambique) September 17, 2022
Source: AIM
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