By Amin Kef Sesay
In an exclusive interview with the General Manager of the National Tourist Board, Fatmata Abe-Osagie, in the post European Union Beach Clean Event which was held on the 10th October 2020, she started by stating that seaweed, waste disposal and dumping have all contributed in making the country’s beaches less attractive and uninhabitable.
She lamented that in Sierra Leone the negative attitudes of certain citizens in terms of dumping of waste around the coast line has become very alarming and irresponsible.
Madam Abe-Osagie maintained that individuals use the beaches for recreation as well as entertainment but woefully fail to clean up their waste adding how such behaviours result to environmental degradation.
“From time to time Government spends huge sums of money on beach cleaning supported by donors and partners. Quite recently Government employed 300 beach workers but that is not even enough as we have so many beaches across the country,” she underscored.
“We must desist from this attitude and behave more responsibly to protect our environment,” she appealed using this media platform to reach out to members of the public and thanked all the other stakeholders, with particular reference to the UNDP for its support over the years and for donating to them a tractor, a barber for beach cleaning as well as the European Union for taking the lead in cleaning the beach.
It could be recalled that it was all fun and serious business along the Lumley to Aberdeen beach in Freetown on the October 10, 2020 as the European Union Delegation in Sierra Leone with partners brought together individuals from various walks of life to participate in the traditional annual beach cleaning exercise.
The cleaning exercise formed part of the European Union’s Climate Diplomacy Weeks geared towards raising awareness on mankind’s responsibility to the environment including the beaches, oceans and planet earth as a whole.
The exercise was jointly organised with local partners, including the National Tourist Board (NTB), Shout Climate Change Africa (SCCA), Sierra Leone Association of Journalists (SLAJ), Sierra Leone School Green Club.
Those who volunteered and other invitees assembled to clean at the five different locations along the approximately 5-kilometres-long Aberdeen to Lumley beach with strict compliance to Government COVID-19 regulations particularly compulsory use of face masks, social distancing among others.
Also present were the US Ambassador, Maria Brewer, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Nabela Tunis, Speaker of Parliament, Hon. Dr Abass C. Bundu, Speaker of ECOWAS Parliament, Hon. Sidie Mohamed Tunis, Mayor of Freetown, Madam Yvonne Aki-Sawyer, Leader of the Opposition APC, Chernor M. Bah, Coalition for Change (C4C) MP, Hon. Sahr Emerson Lamina and a host of other high profile personalities.
Ambassador Tom Vens, EU Head of Delegation, in his statement said, “Climate change and environmental degradation are one of the biggest long-term challenges we face. While with COVID-19 the immediate priority has been on addressing the short-term health, economic and social crisis, we are presented both with the opportunity and obligation to tackle these challenges and to “build back better”, not least in terms of combating climate change and protecting the environment more effectively.”
According to him, the beach cleaning exercise was undertaken in order to encourage positive global action and effective collaboration on climate change issues. He added that the event is usually organised between June and September but was postponed to October due to the COVID-19 pandemic noting, “yes, we need to clean the beach but we also take protection against COVID-19 seriously.”
He said the beach clean event is to highlight that the Ocean starts with you; the EU global slogan for this year, maintaining that every little action matters when it comes to avoiding pollution on the beach but also everywhere else in the daily lives of peoples either at home, on the streets or in the offices.
The Head of EU Delegation underscored that people could make a difference by caring for the environment and not throwing away garbage, noting that the message needs to be taken home by all volunteers, Government representatives, journalists and students present.
“Lamentably, 60% to 80% of all marine litter is due to plastic waste and plastic pollution causes permanent damage to the environment because plastic is a persistent material, with a long term ecological and economic effects,” he highlighted.
The Ambassador revealed how the EU would host another dedicated event about the environment this week that will focus particularly on tackling single use plastic pollution.
He furthered how in the past weeks they have asked a number of entrepreneurs and students how they would replace single use plastic in Sierra Leone, stating that the ideas of the three best submissions will be assessed and the winner with the best ideas will be subsequently announced.
Vens said, the EU funded sustainable waste management project that the Freetown City Council (FCC)is implementing will hugely contribute to tacking waste management in and also help address the emerging social problems of youth unemployment in Freetown.
“Today is about green activism and spreading awareness on our responsibility for greener actions. The EU strives for a greener planet on many different levels, both within and outside its borders,” he said.
The highpoint of the beach cleaning event was the donation of several cleaning equipment to the National Tourist Board through the Minister of Tourism and Culture, Dr. Memunatu Pratt.
