In Gabon, the people of the capital Libreville are currently taking part in clean-up operations and raising awareness of marine pollution in order to make aquatic environments polluted by plastic waste more attractive.
While plastic waste dumped in the gutters of Libreville ends up in the Atlantic Ocean, a joint initiative between the Arise industrial group and the “Ici commence la mer” project, which is very popular in Europe, is under way in the Gabonese capital. The main aim is to raise public awareness of environmentally responsible practices, in particular by limiting the use of plastics.
The initiative, the first phase of which is running in parallel at the Université Omar Bongo (UOB), the Nelson Mandela high school and the Ruban Vert school in Libreville, is helping to implement the United Nations’ 14th Sustainable Development Goal (SDG14), which calls for respect for animal and plant species living in aquatic environments. It is jointly supported by the municipal authorities, the Gabonese Federation for the Okiri Environment and the High Commission for the Environment and the Living Environment (HCECV).
Like most of its neighbours (Equatorial Guinea, Congo and Cameroon), Gabon is faced with a proliferation of plastic waste, including on its coastline. A clean-up operation carried out by the Gabonese army collected up to 16,000 plastic bottles in Akanda and the rest of Greater Libreville in 2022. This was some time after the departure of the Lebanese company Averda, whose tasks included sweeping the streets, cleaning the gutters and, above all, cleaning the beaches.
Read also-GABON: Mindoubé landfill to be rehabilitated for urban waste recycling
There are a growing number of initiatives in this area on the continent. These include Afri Plastics, supported by OceanHub Africa. Every year, this South African non-governmental organisation (NGO) awards prizes to 12 ecological solutions that are likely to enhance the protection of marine ecosystems in Africa. Its 4th call for projects, which closed on 14 May 2023, should reward African start-ups that have proposed concrete techniques to reduce overfishing and pollution by plastic waste, up to a maximum of $10,000 per project.
Benoit-Ivan Wansi
