In honor of International Coastal Cleanup Day which is on September 16th this year, the Institute of Caribbean Studies (ICS) will partner with the regional NGO the Caribbean Youth Environment Network (CYEN) with headquarters in Barbados and the Development Foresight Institute (DFI) based in Jamaica to launch an online competition aimed at bringing greater awareness to the challenge of plastic waste in the Caribbean Sea.
“The Caribbean Plastic Waste Challenge” which is being supported by technology provider IDEABUZZ, asks the public to address their creativity to providing answers and actionable projects that respond to the challenge: “How can we reduce the amount of plastic waste in the Caribbean Sea?”
The goal of the challenge is to provide CYEN and ICS who have been collaborating on public awareness campaigns also for UN World Ocean Day to identify new ideas and explore solutions for how countries in the Caribbean basin, shipping traffic and countries bordering the Atlantic can help to reduce the plastic waste stream entering the Caribbean Sea.
Reginald Burke, Executive Coordinator of CYEN states, “It is vital that we identify ways to reduce the amount of plastic waste in the Caribbean Sea, and address the amount of plastic disposed of incorrectly from land as well as from shipping traffic. We’re seeking ideas which could be actionable by various sectors such as the hotel sector; the restaurant sector; or the manufacturing/packaging sector. We can’t just wait on government. Reducing, recycling and reusing plastic in the Caribbean Sea Basin countries should be everyone’s concern.”
Land-based sources of pollution from unmanaged waste from the Caribbean Basin countries, waste from shipping traffic as well as waste from other oceans are also threatening the viability of the Sea. In 2016, the International Coastal Cleanup Day event across the Caribbean removed some 402,993 pounds (approx. 210 tons) of marine debris from beaches in 22 countries. It is estimated that 55% of all the items found were plastic.
While the 37 nations and overseas territories of the Caribbean are separated by water, it is this shared resource — the Caribbean Sea—that unites them. Thus the peoples and governments of the Caribbean must work together to address the growing threats to the Sea. The Caribbean Sea is designated a Special Zone. The Caribbean contains some of the world’s richest marine biodiversity. In the sea and along island coastlines, the region harbors 10% of the world’s coral reefs, 1,500 fish and marine mammal species, 15,000 plant species and mile after mile of mangrove forests.
Submission of entries for “The Caribbean Plastic Waste Challenge” will begin on Friday, September 15th. For more information, please visit www.thecaribbeansea.org. To learn more about the Institute of Caribbean Studies, visit www.icsdc.org and the Caribbean Youth Environment Network, www.cyen.org
Instructions for submitting entries to the Challenge.
- Please click on “The Caribbean Plastic Waste Challenge”
- Click on “How Can we Reduce the Amount of Plastic Waste”
- Review Challenge Overview and Timeline
- Create a password and login
- Submit Ideas and poster submission
