July 12th, 2009 @ kadraoui // No Comments
Washington DC / Nairobi – From discarded fishing gear to plastic bags to cigarette butts, a growing tide of marine litter is harming oceans and beaches worldwide, says a new report. The report, the first-ever attempt to take stock of the marine litter situation in the 12 major regional seas around the world, was launched on World Oceans Day by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and Ocean Conservancy. It is titled “Marine Litter: A Global Challenge”.
Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary-General and UNEP Executive Director, said: “Marine litter is symptomatic of a wider malaise: namely the wasteful use and persistent poor management of natural resources. The plastic bags, bottles and other debris piling up in the oceans and seas could be dramatically reduced by improved waste reduction, waste management and recycling initiatives”.
“Some of the litter, like thin film single use plastic bags which choke marine life, should be banned or phased-out rapidly everywhere – there is simply zero justification for manufacturing them anymore, anywhere. Other waste can be cut by boosting public awareness, and proposing an array of economic incentives and smart market mechanisms that tip the balance in favor of recycling, reducing or re-use rather than dumping into the sea,” he said.
The report’s findings indicate that despite several international, regional and national efforts to reverse marine pollution, alarming quantities of rubbish thrown out to sea continue to endanger people’s safety and health, entrap wildlife, damage nautical equipment and deface coastal areas around the world.
Plastic – especially plastic bags and PET bottles – is the most pervasive type of marine litter around the world, accounting for over 80 per cent of all rubbish collected in several of the regional seas assessed. Plastic debris is accumulating in terrestrial and marine environments worldwide, slowly breaking down into tinier and tinier pieces that can be consumed by the smallest marine life at the base of the food web.
Plastics can be mistaken as food by numerous animals, including marine mammals, birds, fish and turtles. Sea turtles in particular may confuse floating plastic bags with jellyfish, one of their favorite treats. A five-year survey of fulmars found in the North Sea region found that 95 percent of these seabirds contained plastic in their stomachs.
Smoking-related activities also receive top rankings when it comes to sources of marine litter. Cigarette filters, tobacco packets and cigar tips make up 40 per cent of all marine litter in the Mediterranean, while in Ecuador smoking-related rubbish accounted for over half of the total coastal litter ‘catch’ in 2005.
Unsightly and unsafe, marine litter can cause serious economic losses through damaged boats, fishing gear, contamination of tourism and agriculture facilities. For example: * The cost of cleaning the beaches in Bohuslän on the west coast of Sweden in just one year was at least 10 million SEK or $1,550,200.
* In the UK, Shetland fishermen had reported that 92 per cent of them had recurring problems with debris in nets, and it has been estimated that each boat could lose between $10,500 and $53,300 per year due to the presence of marine litter. The cost to the local industry could then be as high as $4,300,000.
* The municipality of Ventanillas in Peru has calculated that it would have to invest around US$400,000 a year in order to clean its coastline, while its annual budget for cleaning all public areas is only half that amount.
At the same time, flexible and economic incentives and deterrents need to be put in place to address the growing problem of marine litter. The level of fines for ocean dumping also needs to be reviewed to make them a sufficient deterrent. For example in the US the cruise ship Regal Princess was fined US$500,000 (about €336,600 or £268,719) in 1993 for dumping 20 bags of garbage in to the sea. Fines of this level would act as a genuine deterrent to dumping of marine litter.
More information under grida.no. The report “Marine Litter: A Global Challenge” is said to be available online soon.
July 9th, 2009 @ kadraoui // No Comments
WASHINGTON: The global economy is slowly starting to pull out of its deepest recession since the Second World War but recovery will be sluggish and policies need to remain supportive, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said yesterday. In an update of its World Economic Outlook, the IMF said the global economy is likely to contract 1.4 per cent this year, a touch steeper than the 1.3pc decline it projected in April. However, it now sees world economic growth picking up to 2.5pc next year, compared to an April projection of 1.9pc. IMF chief economist Olivier Blanchard said forces dragging down the economy were easing in intensity but those pushing it up were still weak, despite heavy government spending and central bank lending. “This leads us to predict that while the world economy is still in recession, the recovery is coming but it is likely to be a weak recovery,” he said. The IMF said financial conditions had improved more than expected as governments have pumped huge amounts of money into their economies, and warned that withdrawing supportive fiscal and monetary policies prematurely would hurt the recovery. It said while the world’s advanced economies are expected to recover modestly next year, growth will remain below potential, suggesting unemployment will continue to rise. It said the US economy will contract 2.6pc this year, slightly less than it thought in April, with growth resuming next year, albeit at a mere 0.8pc. The IMF said the euro-area economy would likely shrink 4.8pc this year, 0.6 percentage point more than it had forecast in April. Next year, the IMF said the euro-area would contract 0.3pc.
July 9th, 2009 @ kadraoui // No Comments
IAM amazed at how people treat their own environment in Bahrain. I pulled up behind a man last Friday evening at the traffic lights on Exhibition Road and watched this driver open his car door and empty the rubbish all over the street, before the lights turned green. I was shocked. A few weeks ago, at one of the public beaches, I witnessed a person cleaning his car in the car park and throwing papers and cans. Why? What sort of people are these? Is there no shame or conscience? I am from the UK, where parents teach their children to respect other people and their surroundings. I find it so disheartening to see these people spoiling what is a wonderful place. Bahrain could be one of the most desirable places to visit for foreign tourists, if only we could educate these ignorant individuals spoiling their own country. Give me the job of sorting this problem. It’s not rocket science. Educate them, monitor and as a last resort, punish them.
Mark Edwards
July 9th, 2009 @ kadraoui // No Comments
THIS is in response to the letter ‘Stench still there” (GDN, July 2) over sewage or chemicals being pumped into Tubli Bay. Bahrain is a highly-polluted country and this is a known fact. So, it is not surprising that there are foul smells in different areas. Didn’t you notice that for this reason, there are no public beaches anywhere near the populated areas? The authorities know what they are doing and do not want water diseases to spread. This situation is not going to change unless something dramatic is done. So, the best thing perhaps is to find an apartment in Zallaq, if you intend to hang around in Bahrain for sometime. Zallaq is a sorry strip of wasteland by the way, but it’s much less polluted than the other places.
Ahmed
July 9th, 2009 @ kadraoui // No Comments
Kingdom of Bahrain, 9th July 2009: Royal Sun Alliance (RSA) has entered into an agreement with Recycling for Charity for a paper recycling initiative, which is a part of their ongoing CSR campaign. Building on its commitment to responsible recycling, Royal Sun Alliance will utilise the services of Recycling for Charity to help them recycle all the paper consumed in its offices and reducing its ecological footprint.
RSA is one of the world’s leading multinational quoted insurance groups, and has been involved in the past in encouraging staff members to be conscientiously aware of the environment, with initiatives such as switching off laptops and computers and turning off the printer and lights after use. This partnership with Recycling for Charity will help RSA to take simple steps to reuse, reduce and recycle paper, which will not only improve the company’s environmental record but will also improve the bottom line and help in enhancing the overall efficiency of the business.
Everyone should incorporate environmental thinking into their professional lives by doing simple things like saving paper by only printing what you really need, printing double sided so less paper is wasted, re-using scrap paper for notes and editing documents on the computer rather than printing hard copies.
Quote from RSA spokesperson
Recycling for Charity has provided custom-made internationally approved recycling containers for RSA Bahrain where recyclable paper can be deposited. These will be emptied regularly and transported to the recycling factory in Sitra. For every tonne collected Recycling for Charity will donate to local charity organisations.
Mr. Boris Uhlig, Chief Executive Officer, Recycling for Charity, said, “Recycling is an important step forward for companies who aspire to become environmentally-friendly as a move towards creating a sustainable society and healing the damage caused by the overuse of perishable resources.”
Paper is one of the easiest materials to recycle which also has many environmental benefits. Recycling a tonne of paper can save around 7 trees, approximately 30,000 to 60,000 litres of water, 40% of energy and 95% of air pollution.