Vice President Faisal Naseem has called on the public to reduce the amount of waste produced on a national scale. He made the statement while speaking at the Prevention of Marine Litter in the Lakshadweep Sea (PROMISE) Sustainability Awards 2022.
Speaking at the awards ceremony, Vice President Naseem said that the ocean is the country’s biggest asset as it provides food, water, and revenue through tourism. The vice president stressed the collective responsibility of Maldivians to protect the ocean to secure their livelihoods, climate, and children’s future.
Additionally, Vice President Naseem said that pollution poses the biggest threat to the oceans and emphasised how waste collected near coastal mounds finds its way into water bodies and the correlation between pollutants contaminating marine ecosystems and the increased amount of microplastics in the food we consume. He then stressed the severe impact of microplastics in the oceans on marine life and livelihoods. He also lauded the administration’s remarkable efforts in confronting the issue, saying that the recent adoption of waste segregation in the Greater Male’ Region is already showing signs of progress. He stated that waste segregation demonstrates environmental stewardship to future generations by encouraging mindfulness in the waste Maldivians produce and allowing for better waste management that has the potential to generate energy or income.
Furthermore, Vice President Naseem stressed the urgency of reducing waste generated on a national scale and emphasised the country’s plan to phase out single-use plastics by 2023. He highlighted the innovative waste management solutions employed by small and medium-sized enterprises in the tourism industry in the Maldives, Sri Lanka, and India. He also applauded the efforts of the PROMISE project in guiding enterprises in building the best waste management practices to protect the oceans.
At the ceremony, Vice President Naseem presented the awards to the five winners of the PROMISE Sustainability Awards 2022. Around 30 applicants from the Maldives, Sri Lanka, and India were considered for this year’s awards.
PROMISE is a four-year project is supported by the European Union (EU) under the SWITCH-Asia Programme to target marine litter along the Lakshadweep shorelines of the Maldives, Sri Lanka, and India. The project targets and guides micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) to prevent the leakage of wastes from land-based sources into the Lakshadweep Sea.