The World Wide Fund for Nature has called for radical actions to combat the increasing rate of environmental damage to water sources and resources.
The call was made by the WWF- Uganda country Director David Duli during an event to mark the Earth Hour at the Uganda Media Centre in Kampala.
Earth Hour is a worldwide Movement organized by the World Wide Fund for Nature, the event is held annually encouraging individuals, communities and businesses to turn off non essential electric lights off for one hour from 8:30 Pm -9:30 Pm on a specific day towards the end of March to the planer its was started as a lights off event in Sydney Australia and this year 2021, March 27 was the date for the earth hour.
Duli said while plastic has very many valuable uses, people have become addicted to the single use ir disposable plastic with severe environmental consequences.
“Around the world, one million plastic drinking bottles are purchased every minute while 5 trillion single use plastic bags are used world wide,” he said.
Dulli said every year in total, half of all plastics produced or designed are to be used once and then throw them away.
“Only 90% of plastic waste ever produced has been recycled and 12% has been incinerated while the rest 79% has accumulated in landfills, dumps or the natural environment,” he said.
The Archbishop for the church of Uganda Stephen Kazimba said in the last 10 years world has made more plastics than in a century.
He cites fears that by 2050, the population of fish will be outnumbered by the amount of plastic litter in the water bodies.
“let us switch off habits such as using plastic bags and bottles and damping them carelessly let us refuse to use the single use plastics and reduce the amount of plastic entering in our environment every second,” he said.
The Minister of Water and Environment, Sam Cheptoris said reversing the loss of nature also holds the future to our prosperity and it is the only way to secure livelihoods and and the vast majority of our economic activity that’s dependent on the natural resources.
He said government is to process a momentous opportunity for further prioritization of environmental and sustainable development agenda at the forefront of all government programs.
