By SOPHIE FOSTER
Monday, November 03, 2008

OVER 13,000 pieces of plastic litter are floating on every square kilometre of ocean surface, the US Academy of Sciences has estimated.

And this has come despite actions taken nationally and internationally to stop the marine litter situation from getting worse, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has warned.

It's a problem that countries in the Pacific Ocean need to take to heart, and this includes Fiji.

Just four years ago, studies conducted by the UNEP in the Pacific indicated that "along with issues such as rising sea levels, over-fishing, water shortages and inadequate sanitation services, waste is fast becoming another key problem".

The UNEP and Small Island Developing States: 1994-2004 and Future Perspectives estimated that "since the early 1990s the levels of plastic wastes on small island developing states (SIDS) has increased five fold".

It said that problems of rubbish and litter are part of a wider waste crisis.

"The wastes not only threaten public health but also livelihoods," it said.

"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," it said.

The UNEP warned that litter was a "universal problem amongst all the islands" in the Pacific region.

"Pollution of water supplies is potentially region-wide, due to inadequate treatment of domestic waste water and inadequate solid waste disposal," said one UNEP's Global International Waters Assessment (GIWA) report.

"A short walk along any coastline close to human habitation in the Pacific Islands will reveal many example of inappropriate waste disposal, even in areas where there is a municipal collection system such as the city of Suva (Fiji)."

It warned that creeks running into Apia harbour in Samoa were "heavily choked with domestic rubbish adjacent to people's homes and the roadway" and that this situation could be seen across the Pacific.

It commended annual clean ups on islands, but said social attitudes appeared to be unchanging with the same amount of rubbish and wastes quickly piling up.

"The Pacific island of Nauru, for example, now has a 'blue green shoreline'," the report said.

"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."

It said clean up activities carried out every year by thousands of school children, volunteers and local authorities in a large number of countries in all parts of the world netted tonnes of garbage that could have been preventable.

For Fiji this year has seen some action taken -- with the Department of Environment appointing additional staff to strengthen the enforcement procedure of the Litter Promulgation 2008.

And a taskforce was also formed to make the new law more effective, involving representatives from the Solicitor-General's Office, Fiji Police Force, Central Board of Health, Department of Local Government and the Occupational Health and Safety Department.

The new Litter Promulgation 2008 was recently gazetted on August 15 by the President.

Director Environment Epeli Nasome said the Litter Promulgation was intended to strengthen the required provisions for litter controls.

All this comes as we near the 2008 Clean Up Fiji Day will be held on Saturday, November 22 nationwide. The campaign is due to be launched this Friday.

Article reproduced courtesy of Fiji Times Online - http://www.fijitimes.com/story.aspx?id=105185