Concerned about the damaging impacts of plastic waste on our environment, young Nigerians are advocating an end to plastic waste through recycling and the use of paper bags.
The young Nigerians who gathered in Abuja under the auspices of Community Action Against Plastic Waste (CAPws) Abuja, with the support from UNDP Nigeria at the Nigeria Youth Stockholm+50 Pre-conference Information Session, brainstormed on the efforts toward green recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic, achieving the environmental dimensions of the Sustainable Development Goals, and amplifying grassroots youths’ engagement in the UN International Meeting Stockholm+50: a healthy planet for the prosperity of all.
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CAPws is a community of grassroots youths and youth-led organizations advancing the circular plastic economy for just, inclusive and sustainable development for the prosperity of all people and our planet.
The CAPws partnership director, Fatima Aliyu Magaji, said the meeting was aimed at empowering youths to reimagine environmental activism.
She said the concept is for youth-led organizations, government officials, civil society organizations, tech, and the public to have conversations and then proffer local solutions ahead of the main meeting next week in Stockholm, Sweden.
Magaji pointed out that one of the major menaces Nigeria is currently facing is the issue of plastic pollution.
“It is one of the most immediate threats to our environment. It is estimated that by 2050, there will be more plastics than fish in the ocean. Due to lack of regulation corporations are pumping plastics into the environment and there is little to no responsibility for how it is being recycled.”
The Executive Director (CAPws) Mr. Ahmad Tiamiyu. who also spoke at the meeting said “The goal is for everybody to play a part in this process of tackling plastic pollution. We need the government, civil society organisations, private individuals, activists, and even children. We want action. We don’t want another conference where people come and sit and have discussions. We want solutions that is why we have brought stakeholders to come and discuss our issues.”
The Programme Officer, Digital Climate, European Union Mission to Nigeria, Dr. Sabri Mekaoui, tasked the youths to come up with a long-term agenda that can be executed over a timeframe to tackle the nation’s environmental issues. “From what I see today here, where a lot of young people are collectively grouping to address the bigger issue. I don’t think they are discussing just plastics here. They are discussing the long-term, the Stockholm conference. They are already talking about COP 27. I see people involved and many organisations represented here. This is a sign that the youths are already very organized” he noted.
He said the Nigerian youths need to commit themselves to achieve, maybe, seven/eight points within the next 10 years on environmental sustainability.