Monday 17 September 2012

ICC 2012.. Cleaning up the coasts!



The International Coastal Clean-up (ICC) is a worldwide annual one-day volunteer event coordinated by the Ocean Conservancy geared toward pollution clean-up and pollution prevention. Since 1985, this event has become the world’s largest volunteer effort for ocean health. Nearly nine million volunteers from 152 countries and locations have cleaned 145 million pounds of trash from the shores of lakes, streams, rivers, and the ocean on just one day each year. For more than a quarter of a century, volunteers with the ICC have picked up everything imaginable along the world's shorelines: cigarette butts, food wrappers, and even the proverbial kitchen sink.


Trinidad and Tobago has historically supported the International Coastal Clean-up endeavour of the Ocean Conservancy for many years, with the Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources being a major sponsor. The date for this year’s event was Saturday September 15th, 2012. The various Divisions and Agencies of the Ministry all generously participated at various beaches around the country:
  • Environmental Policy and Planning Division (EPPD) and Green Fund – Harts Cut Bay, Chaguaramas
  • Environmental Management Authority (EMA) – Manzanilla Beach, Manzanilla
  • Water and Sewerage Authority (WASA) – Marianna’s Bay, Blanchisseuse

Senator the Honourable Mr Ganga Singh participating in the coastal clean-up exercise at Harts Cut Bay, Chaguaramas
The Honourable Minister of the Environment and Water Resources Ganga Singh, a champion for the cause, also actively participated in the event at the Hart’s Cut venue with staffs of the EPPD, MEAU and Green Fund Executing Unit. The Ministry wishes to kindly acknowledge and thank the local organizer of the event, the Caribbean Network for Integrated Rural Development (CNIRD), all sponsors and site captains, and all the volunteers who participated in making this event such a huge success.
Hopefully these heaps will be smaller next year!

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