Throwaway society new threat to island paradises

Urgent international assistance is needed to help small island states deal with a rising tide of rubbish and waste.

Studies by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) indicate that along with issues including rising sea levels, overfishing, water shortages and inadequate sanitation services, waste is fast becoming another key problem.

The Pacific island of Nauru, for example, now has a "blue- green shoreline", but this has nothing to do with it being next to a beautiful, azure sea.

The color is caused by rubbish or, more specifically, mounds of discarded Fosters and Victoria beer cans. The waste not only threatens public health but also livelihoods. 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 plastic, old cans, discarded sofas and other industrial and household rubbish.

Klaus Toepfer, Executive Director of UNEP, said: "Small islands across the Caribbean, Indian Ocean and the Pacific are some of the most vulnerable nations on Earth. For example, they are threatened by global warming in the guise of more extreme weather events and rising sea levels and their water supplies are often restricted. Many are also found in remote locations and have limited natural resources, which in turn makes them economically vulnerable".

"The management of solid waste from industry, households and tourism is emerging as another issue with which they need advice and help. Such waste is not only unsightly and a threat to wildlife; it can also contaminate rivers and groundwater as it slowly degrades," he said.

Toepfer said UNEP, in collaboration with other UN agencies and waste institutions, has been assisting SIDS to prepare waste minimization plans, draw up directories of environmentally sound waste management technologies and promote cleaner production techniques that generate less pollution.

"However, we need to do much more right across the range of waste if we are to ensure a clean, healthy and sustainable environment for the citizens of small-island developing states," he added.

Jagdish Koonjul, chair of the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) who is from Mauritius, said: "We urgently need access to effective and affordable technologies, including recycling equipment, before this issue of waste becomes critical. It is a cry for technology transfer".

"Many small-island developing states, including my own country of Mauritius, have launched public awareness campaigns and the people have responded. But the fact remains that unless you have ways of reusing and recycling rubbish, it is difficult to know what to do with materials such as plastic, including plastic bags, plus aluminum and paper," he added.

The reports, some of which were released today at an international gathering of environment ministers taking place in Jeju, the Republic of Korea, have been compiled by UNEP's Global Program of Action for the Protection of the Marine Environment from Land-Based Activities, or GPA, and UNEP's Global International Waters Assessment (GIWA).

One, a booklet titled UNEP and Small Island Developing States: 1994-2004 and Future Perspectives, estimates that since the early 1990s the level of plastic waste on small island developing states (SIDS) has increased fivefold. It points out that problems of rubbish and litter are part of a wider waste crisis.

For example, 90 percent of waste water is discharged untreated from islands in the Caribbean. In parts of the northeast Pacific, the level of untreated sewage is 98 per cent.

The new reports will be formally presented to ministers attending a key SIDS conference, Barbados Plus Ten, due to take place on the Indian Ocean island of Mauritius later in the year.

The Pacific Islands

Litter is described as a "universal problem for all the islands" in the region.

"Pollution of water supplies is potentially regionwide, due to inadequate treatment of domestic waste water and inadequate solid waste disposal," says one 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 in the city of Suva (Fiji)," says the report.

It says that creeks running into Apia harbor in Samoa are "heavily choked with domestic rubbish adjacent to people's homes and the roadway".

The report says that despite annual cleanups on islands, social attitudes appear to be unchanging, with the same amount of rubbish and waste quickly piling up.

"Inappropriate solid waste disposal places a burden on the availability of land, which is acute in small islands," it adds.

Indian Ocean Islands

Another report by GIWA says "the most critical issue for the States in the region is the growing problem of solid waste". Both Mauritius and the Seychelles have developed organized waste management schemes. Nevertheless, both these countries still have significant problems.

In the Comoros, collection and disposal of waste is "virtually nonexistent and it is often found scattered throughout the city and in both public and village areas".

In Madagascar, only 6 percent of rubbish and waste is routinely collected. Over half of the population dispose of their waste "anywhere convenient", including on or near beaches and in mangrove swamps.

The levels of rubbish in the capital, Antananarivo, alone are estimated to be 65,700 tonnes.

A growing problem is the dumping of waste at sea, which adds to marine debris and the pollution of coastlines, near and far. As a result, islands, such as the World Heritage Site of Aldabara, which is famous for its giant tortoises, are now suffering from high levels of rubbish washed ashore.

The report argues that inappropriate disposal of rubbish and waste is encouraging vermin, including rats, which in turn carry diseases such as the plague, scabies and other tropical diseases. Poor disposal of waste, especially containers, is also generating increased risk of malarial infections, especially in Madagascar and the Comoros. The containers, ranging from old plastic bags to paint tins, accumulate rain water that turns stagnant -- an ideal breeding ground for disease-carrying insects. UNEP/The Jakarta Post