Our actions have a direct impact on the environment and it is our responsibility to make positive changes towards environmental stewardship, says Assistant Minister at the Office of the Prime Minister Sakiusa Tubuna.
He highlighted this while officiating at the 53rd Earth Day celebration organised by the Department of Environment at Thurston Gardens last Saturday.
“This year’s theme, Invest in Our Planet, calls for the need to foster pathways for our future generations by strengthening existing partnerships and creating new partnerships as collaborative efforts to address the planetary crisis faced,” he said.
“Today (Saturday), the world is faced with the greatest threat of our time — climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution. In Fiji, this is an everyday challenge that many of us are facing.”
He said reducing the use of single-use plastics, conserving water, planting mangroves, recycling or switching to renewable energy sources are ways to make positive changes towards environmental stewardship.
“I encourage communities and individuals to be responsible and be ambassadors for the environment and appreciate the true value of nature and the intricate relationship that it shares with us humans”.
As part of their corporate social responsibility program, representatives from Ministry of Lands and Mineral Resources, Ministry of Environment, Suva City Council, International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), World Wide Fund (WWF), Birdlife International, Digicel, Coca-cola and IGH (GPH and Holiday Inn) came in numbers to collect waste along the Suva foreshore and Thurston gardens.
According to the Fiji Government Facebook page, waste collected included plastic materials, metal, paper, wood, glass, household items and general items.
After sorting, general waste collected weighed up to 280kg, PET bottles at 23kg and 2kg aluminium cans.
