UNEP – throw-away society new threat to island paradises

Urgent international assistance is needed to help small island states deal with a rising tide of rubbish and wastes. Studies by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) indicate that along with issues including rising sea levels, over-fishing, water shortages and inadequate sanitation services, waste is fast becoming another key problem.



The Pacific island of Nauru, for example, now has a “blue green shoreline”. But this has nothing to do with it being next to a beautiful azure sea. The colour is caused by rubbish or more specifically mounds of discarded Fosters and Victoria beer cans.



The wastes not only threaten public health but also livelihoods. Many small island developing states (SIDS) are dependent on income from tourists. Visitors are likely to be less inclined to return to an island or recommend it to friends if the landscape, shoreline and coastal waters are littered with plastics, old cans, discarded sofas and other industrial and household rubbish.



Klaus Toepfer, Executive Director of UNEP, said: “Small islands across the Caribbean, Indian Ocean and the Pacific are some of the most vulnerable nations on Earth. For example they are threatened by global warming in the guise of more extreme weather events and rising sea levels and their water supplies are often restricted. Many are also found in remote locations and have limited natural resources which in turn makes them economically vulnerable”.



“Handling solid wastes from industry, households and tourism is emerging as another issue with which they need advice and help. Such wastes are not only unsightly and a threat to wildlife, they can also contaminate rivers and ground waters as they slowly degrade,” he said.



Mr Toepfer said UNEP, in collaboration with other United Nations agencies and waste institutions, has been assisting SIDS to prepare waste minimization plans, draw up directories of environmentally sound waste management technologies and promote cleaner production techniques that generate less pollution.



“However, we need to do much more right across the range of wastes if we are to ensure a clean, healthy and sustainable environment for the citizens of small island developing states,” he added.



Jagdish Koonjul, chair of the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) who is from Mauritius, said: “We urgently need access to effective and affordable technologies including recycling equipment before this issue of wastes becomes critical. It is a cry for technology transfer”.



“Many small island developing states, including my own country of Mauritius, have launched public awareness campaigns and the people have responded. But the fact remains that unless you have ways of re-using and recycling rubbish, it is difficult to know what to do with materials such as plastics including plastic bags, aluminum and paper,” he added.



The reports, some of which were released today at an international gathering of environment ministers taking place in Jeju, the Republic of Korea, have been compiled by UNEP’s Global Programme of Action for the Protection of the Marine Environment from Land-Based Activities or GPA and UNEP’s Global International Waters Assessment (GIWA).



One, a booklet called UNEP and Small Island Developing States: 1994-2004 and Future Perspectives, estimates that since the early 1990s the levels of plastic wastes on small island developing states (SIDS) has increased five fold. It points out that problems of rubbish and litter are part of a wider waste crisis. For example, 90 per cent of waste-water is discharged untreated from islands in the Caribbean. In parts of the north-east Pacific, the level of untreated sewage is 98 per cent. The new reports will be formally presented to ministers attending a key SIDS conference, called Barbados Plus Ten, taking place on the Indian Ocean island of Mauritius later in the year.



The Pacific Islands



Litter is d