Commonwealth day beach clean-up successful

BY MAVIS NISHIMURA PODKOLO

Participants removing trash and other debris that can end up polluting the water.

THE Commonwealth day beach clean-up was held yesterday at the Yacht club, Point Cruz in Honiara.

The event was supposed to have been held on March 12 to commemorate the Commonwealth Day but was postponed due to poor weather conditions.

Speaking during the opening of the event, Deputy Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare, the guest speaker, said the organisers of the event have been very instrumental in putting together the event.

“Bringing the students and young people to participate in today’s [yesterday] event is a small contribution towards awareness and education of young people about huge problem of rubbish and littering and waste management.”

British High Commissioner David Ward adds, tackling the problem of plastic pollution is one big new challenge for island states such as Solomon Islands in maintaining the health of the ocean.

“Despite the challenges, I am delighted that so many people today including so many young people from the schools of Honiara, have come out to do their bit to clean up the beaches of Honiara and raise public attention to this challenges,” he said.

The beach clean-up held yesterday coincidentally corresponds to the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in London where one main agenda among other global pressing issues before the Commonwealth leaders is ensuring that the Commonwealth countries pay particular attention and focus on tackling marine waste and litter.

Moreover, the British government extends its acknowledgement to the two major sponsors of the event, the BOC for cleaning gears and Solomon Islands Ports Authority (SIPA) for providing T-shirts.

Present in yesterday’s event were students from St Nicholas College, Bishop Epalle School, Mbokona School, staff from Ministry of Women Youth Children and Family Affairs and Ministry of Culture and Tourism.

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