By Bianca Iboma-Emefu
Perturbed by the rate at which plastic are dumped in the ocean and ensure efforts is made to combat the menace, the Nigerian Sustainable Banking Principles (NSBP) champion group carried out a clean up exercise at the Lafaji beach, Ajah-Lagos,in order preserved the ecosystem.
The exercise was undertaken to commemorate the World Environment Day (WED) held globally on June 5,2023.
NSBP guidelines are aimed at integrating environmental and social policies into decision making processes in commercial banks
“Clean Seas Campaign renews its global efforts to tackle marine litter and plastic pollution, now with a focus on how individuals can use both national and international laws to push for change.
The campaign aims to break humanity’s addiction to unnecessary and avoidable plastic, pollution.
NSBP called for the protection of marine life, waste management that would engender a cleaner and healthier environment, as part of it’s guidelines aimed at integrating environmental and social policies.
At the event, an environmental expert with Principal Plogga, Plogging Nigeria,Sodiq Jinad. said plastics are the largest, most harmful and persistent fraction of marine litter, accounting for at least 85 per cent of total marine waste. We need urgent action to address the pressing issues of waste pollution in the country,to keep Nigeria safe from the danger of climate change.
Jinad said that the problem of plastic pollution is a multi faecetile challenge,without action, within the nearest decade plastic waste flowing into the aquatic ecosystems will triple.
He recommended the need for more advocacy and education to sensitized the people,publicity, recycling and on cycling are other channels that can effectively curb plastic pollution in Nigeria.
Jinad called on government and individuals to has one common element, individuals can serve by creating awareness in various community while the government on their part need to enact policies that help, establishing recycling centers. Monitoring and evaluation
Sustainable Finance Associate at Access Corporation,Kosiso Iwugo said that the essence of the exercise is to educate the community on waste management and how they can keep the ocean clean for their benefits.
Iwugo stated that NBPS advocate for a clean, green, healthy and beautiful environment and to curb the impact of climate change.
Iwugo stressed the significance of the World Environment Day in mobilizing transformative action from every corner of the world. Today, we are here to create awareness on clean environment and the protection of marine life. We are involved in this clean up exercise to show the importance of keeping it clean to the community. If the water is clean, it gives them healthy benefits and address the issue of biodiversity loss.
She urged them to use less plastic because there are other alternative to plastic considering the amount of plastic waste that flows into oceans. Although we are encouraging a circular economy, people need to make use of paper bags for storage to reduce the number of plastic they dump as waste to protect the environment.
Iwugo a lot of waste in the ocean.
“With available science and solutions
to tackle the problem, governments, companies and other stakeholders must scale up and speed actions to solve this crisis.
The Lead care giver, Sweetnaturalshaircare, said they more sentitization Mrs Oluwaseun Osho stated though plastic has many valuable uses, our dependency on it comes at high environmental, social, economic and health costs. The qualities that make plastic useful are also the ones that make it hazardous: designed to fool nature itself, most plastics are too resilient to biodegrade in a meaningful timeframe.
Marine and coastal species are affected by this pollution through ingestion, entanglement, and other dangers. We need to sensitized everyone about the danger ahead.
“Our current efforts to recycle plastics have been inefficient so far. A lot of plastic pollution and waste go back to the environment.
Most of it is either thrown away or cannot be processed for recycling. More than half of all plastic waste ends up in soils or freshwater, endangering our food, our livestock and the health of the soil. Invisible to the eye, microplastics linger in the environment, the food chain, and our bodies.
Team lead, Sustainability Polaris Bank Ltd, Yemi Akinrelere said the locals are ignorant about the health hazards of plastic pollution.
They don’t understand that whatever is thrown into the water comes back . Plastic pollution is capable of affecting land, waterways and oceans as marine and land creatures have died due to the fact that plastic is non-biodegradable and it causes hazards to soil.
Akinrelere said It blocks drainage lines and fill up land space causing floods and erosion thereby causing deterioration of the Nigerian roads. Plastics wastes are also harmful to human health; they may contain harmful acids that her hazardous to our health.
“The world is tending towards energy and sustainable development. Therefore, an urgent need for recycling plastic wastes into a solution for wealth creation is fundamental in Nigeria. All financial institutions in Nigeria are advocating better environment for marine live and the society.
A volunteer of trash users,Ejiro Ubierohwo said they noticed that the locals in this community throw their dirt into the ocean, the environment has high rate of open defecation. They mess it up, it comes back to them. Ubierohwo said more advocacy and sensitization is the key, to curb it. We should teach them to recycle bin and make money. On a regular basis we need to come up with programs that can effectively curb plastic pollution in the country.
She added that the solution to plastic pollution is closer to the ground than we might think. Our commitment to beat plastic pollution combined with business incentives that address plastic dependency can result in a positive switch from the ‘throwaway economy’ to a ‘reuse’ society. Through our everyday choices as consumers, let us join efforts with governments and businesses, shifting toward sustainable plastic alternatives and reusable plastic products, to reduce damage to human health, the environment and the land.
She said that the ocean is the world’s blue economy that should be properly harnessed for a viable green economy for Nigeria and the world.
She added that they embarked on a door-to-door campaign to educate the locals of Lafaji community in Eti-Osa LGA on waste management and protection of marine life