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Commonwealth communities asked to tackle ocean pollution

People cleaning at a beach.
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Environmental activists have appealed to communities within the Commonwealth to seriously tackle the issue of ocean pollution.

With an estimated 150 million tonnes of plastic in the world’s oceans, concern is mounting about the impact on human and marine life.

Youth from Khayelitsha joined the movement on Saturday, cleaning up Monwabisi Beach Resort on the False Bay Coast.

Monwabisi, is one of a multitude of beaches along the picturesque False Bay Coastline.

It’s also evident, that it has not been spared the pollution which now threatens the world’s beaches and Oceans.

Marieta Hopley Ambassador of Lets Do It! Africa says: “It’s not only about cleaning the trash it’s also going out to government  and lobbying what the trash or waste situation is in the country with the governments and asking them to look at the legislation regarding waste management and people having access to sanitised resources.”

No stranger to the world’s deep seas, endurance swimmer Lewis Pugh is the United Nations Patron of the Oceans.

He often undertakes swims in vulnerable ecosystems, to draw attention to the challenges.

He says it’s imperative to prevent waste from entering the oceans in the first place.

“We’re seeing plastic pollution all over the world from high up in the Arctic all the way down to Antartica in the top of the oceans all the way to the bottom and its having a devastating impact on our oceans and this is about bringing it back to a local community saying we now need to get a grip on this situation,” says Pugh.

Youth from the surrounding communities are being urged to become environmental activists.

Waves for Change Organization’s Khnayisa Mngqibisa says, “It’s very important for young people to be able to clean the beach because they know that we are avoiding our nature from being dirty and they know that we have fish that can be killed by this dirt, they know that we are using the beach for them and if we don’t clean the beach, we might kill all the animals, birds and the seals.”

The clean-up comes ahead of the Commonwealth Summit to be held in London next week which will see 50 countries including South Africa address ocean related matters.

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