Kenya Rolled Out Awareness Campaign on Marine Plastic Waste

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): Kenya joined other nations, to launch efforts to raise awareness on the potential impacts of marine litter, on the occasion of Oceans Day. It also called for a ban on plastic items.

A large number of marine enthusiasts, government agencies and school parties became part of beach clean-up activities along the country’s beaches, as part of events and celebrations to mark the day. The campaign on marine litter awareness along the Kenyan Coastline by the Kenya Maritime Authority (KMA) resulted in collection of approximately three tonnes of plastic waste from beaches.

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Robert Njue, Director-General, KMA noted that marine plastic litter is costly and dangerous to safety of navigation and harmful to marine life. This is on top of impacts caused on human health and pollution.

Meantime, Dr Mohamed Omar, Principal Research Scientist, Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) recalled that oceans serve as an important sync for carbon and harbours very high level of biodiversity. Over 60% of human population relies on seas for daily lives. These oceans face a lot of threats including over-exploitation of resources. The pollution continues to remain as a serious threat to the survival of a cleaner ocean, he added.