 Hello, and welcome to TV30, another TV30 production of the Government Information Service. My name is Jessie Layance, Information Assistant at the Department of Sustainable Development. We have some wonderful news. The Cabinet of Ministers has endorsed the Marine Litter Management Action Plan. We call it the MLMAP, the latest national effort to address pollution, more specifically Marine Litter. I am joined by Mrs. Dawn Pierre Nathaniel, Chief Sustainable Development and Environment Officer as well as consultant on the project, Mr. Bishnu Tusi, to speak a little bit about the MLMAP and what it will mean for St. Lucia. Greetings. Thank you so much for being here. Thank you so much for having us. DPN, I want to start with you. Just tell us a little bit about, you know, essentially why an MLMAP? Why this national effort to address pollution? We know for certain that we do have a problem dealing with Marine Litter and what have you, but why this coordinated effort? What hasn't worked before that needs to be efforted in this MLMAP now? Well, Marine Litter, plastic pollution, waste management remains a critical issue that the world is facing, the region is facing, and certainly St. Lucia is facing. And we recognize that it is affecting and has the ability to continue to affect just about every sector in St. Lucia in one way or the other. We're an island, we depend on tourism as one of our mainstays, and the whole looking at litter and waste, the two just do not go in sync and hand in hand, and it's a problem in terms of aesthetics, it's a problem in terms of other aspects like biodiversity, conservation and ecosystem uses, and all of these aspects as well. So it's not just an eyesore in terms of visitors and how it can affect us economically, but it can affect us socially. We use the beaches, et cetera, the environment in terms of recreation, and it affects us as well environmentally as well. Wonderful. Mr. Tulsi, we have seen many a year of efforts to curb, to deal with, address a variety of actions, including cleanups and what have you. Just going through the validation engagements with stakeholders and what have you, speak to us about, you know, what hasn't worked so far, what are some of the challenge areas that MLMAP with its documentation and so on, implementation will address. That's an interesting question. The single biggest problem is that we do not dispose of our waste the way we should. If we can do that, then most of the problem is gone. You mentioned cleanups, yes, a lot of these have been happening, but they are not coordinated, you know, consistent, and therefore the effort is diluted. Using the MLMAP focuses attention on specific areas of interventions, which stakeholders identify as the priority ones, and that way we can get a more structured approach to managing waste. I must say that in the research I've done, Centrucia has a really good waste management collection system. The problem is that too much waste does not enter that system. It is leaked out of the mainstream collection system, and they end up in the environment, the rain to take them into the rainwater, take them into the rivers, and they end up in the sea, and then all the problems don't spoke about. So this is really about creating a structure, having a structure approach to dealing with a problem that, except for the work of the Solid Waste Management Authority, has been done in an uncoordinated way. Just to add to that, Mr. Tulsi, in terms of looking at that structured approach, we recognize that there is more than one way to tackle the issue, and it is not simply using one method. And this is why the MLMAP, or the Marine Leader Management Action Plan that we were speaking of, has a number of pillars. There are five pillars specifically. There are pillars to deal with the policy and regulatory framework, looking at pieces of legislation that we were still trying to push, like our Beverage Containers Bill, or our Marine Pollution Act, et cetera, and noticing that these are important in terms of the policy direction for the country where waste is concerned. But looking at our second pillar, for example, that speaks specifically to waste minimization, aspects to do with just not reuse and recycling, but also segregation and composting. The third pillar, the whole one under which we are looking at the Cleanup Campaign Plan, just as it indicates, it's about cleanup campaigns, something we still have to do because people are not doing what they're supposed to do. The fourth pillar looks at partnerships. And that is an important and fundamental part of the plan, in that we aren't able to do this alone as a government. It has to be the government and civil society and the private sector, the business organizations, the media, the individual persons, the students, everyone, the youth working together on this issue. So, for example, having been able to partner with entities such as Massey in the single use plastic bag. So partnerships, that's a very important component of the plan. And of course, awareness raising and behavioral change. A lot of what we do when we generate infographics or we do campaigns and we have public awareness where we do audiovisuals. We have debates and we have exhibitions and all kinds of mannerisms to try to encourage people to do the right thing and to want to do the right thing. So none of these pillars, as Mr. Tulsi was saying, none of them really work alone. They have to work in tandem with each other in order to be effective. And it requires a real collaborative effort to get somewhere. That's okay. I said DPN earlier. Yes. And there has to be international cooperation as well. Yes. Because marine litter is really a transboundary problem. Yes, for sure. Absolutely. We're going to delve a little bit more into the pillars in just a moment. But I just want to get an understanding of how was the Department of Sustainable Development guided in approaching the situation even before the MLMAP was fully developed. What was the vision, what was the plan going into this and who were some of the persons that were engaged in some of the events that you've had so far, DPN? Well, the Department of Sustainable Development has been involved in the whole drive where single-use plastics is concerned. So we have been pushing towards the phase out of single-use plastics, a process with legislation that started, I would say, in 2019 in terms of legislation and incrementally adding it where first it was the ban on importation and moving towards use and sale, etc. So that in 2022 you have that effective ban that is all encompassing on certain single-use select plastics, food beverage containers, stirrers and stirrers, etc. And now we see an environment where of course we don't see the styrofoam piles that we used to see before. So we were seeing progress in that regard. But all of this was part of the process and part of the package under our National Oceans Policy as well, looking at that overarching guide as to how we want to advance as a country in terms of advancing the blue economy and that includes also having proper waste management actions in place. So this process with the development of the MLMAP, we worked with a number of agencies involved in waste management in some way or the other in the collection of waste. So we had a technical consultation where we brought them in to help us guide the process, to help us with the process in terms of what our waste types were, what are the methods that existed right now, who was collecting waste, what data they had. And that helped us if our National Source Inventory that fed into the marine litter management action plan that was developed. We also had a high level segment that was led by our Minister for Sustainable Development but also in collaboration with at least five other parliamentary representatives. And that was significant in terms of being able to get that buy-in that is needed for an issue that affects every single sector in St. Lucia. And being able to have them be part of the process for coming up with the ideas of what those pillars should be and what those activities should be. And that was fundamental. We also had a broad-based consultation and seminar where we had the private sector civil society also contributing to this process towards the development of the MLMAP. We developed collaboratively a number of audio-visual pieces, a number of debates, we had panel discussions and all of that to bring persons in in terms of understanding the situation before us and looking for ways to be able to solve this problem in a sustainable manner, in a coordinated manner compared to what has happened in the past and what has, looking at what has not worked and seeing how we can improve upon it going forward. Thanks for that. Mr. Tulsi, in the development of the NSI and the National Source Inventory and even the MLMAP preparations as well, what information did you have in the research? What was coming forward? Was there a plethora of information, statistics, data? There's been a lot of cleanups. There have been a lot of efforts throughout the years, not only in St. Lucia, but in all the islands to have, you know, to deal with this pollution problem. What were you coming into and what did you have to source out? Yeah, one of the challenges I faced was that the cleanup campaigns did not generate data. Persons would conduct the cleanup campaigns and dispose of the waste. So there wasn't really any information on the type of waste that was being collected or where it was being collected. And that sort of created a challenge for putting the National Source Inventory together. I was fortunate in the exercise because just prior to starting that, the IUCN had done a study on waste in St. Lucia. And they used scientific methods to try and estimate the amount of waste that is being generated and the types of waste from the tourism, the domestic, commercial and fishery sectors. So that data was available. They were not accurate. The pandemic prevented them from doing the extensive fieldwork that was planned. But they did do some waste, actual waste segregation, collecting waste from different sources, separating it and to see what types of waste was there and extrapolating that to the country level. In addition to that, a lot of work was done, especially by UNEP. But the Florida State University has done work as well, the IUCN has done work, in estimating marine litter and coming up with strategies to address the problem. And in doing those reports, they also did some research into actual waste and used proxy data from other sources, other similar jurisdictions. And the third source I was able to access was two waste segregation studies that were done by the Solid Waste Management Authority, where they did waste segregation studies and were able to come up with actual percentages of different types of waste. So the effort benefited from those studies and the data coming out of those studies were used to generate the information in the national source inventory. In a nutshell, the main findings were that most of the waste comes from the domestic sector. I was about to ask. Yes. And most of the leakage into the environment is from that sector as well, followed by tourism in the commercial sectors. So that in the MLMAP, focus is placed on those areas in an effort to achieve the waste minimization and the strategy sort of builds around those. Okay. Thank you very much. We are speaking to the Deputy Chief Sustainable Development and Environment Officer, as well as the consultant on the Marine Litter Management Action Plan, recently endorsed by the Cabinet of Ministers. We're talking about its impact, what we can look forward to and what is happening on the ground right now. Do stay tuned. You're watching TV 13. The world's climate is changing and that affects all of us. Storms are becoming increasingly intense. Periods of intense drought and heavy rain stress farm animals and destroy our crops. Higher average ocean temperatures kill our coral reefs and change the migratory patterns of fish. St. Lucia contributes only 0.0015% of global greenhouse gas emissions, but is doing its part, along with countries around the world, to reduce the emissions that are warming our world and changing our climate. These efforts are called mitigation. But decades of emissions have already changed the climate and the greenhouse gases in the atmosphere today will increase average global temperatures even more. We need to adapt, that is, do everything we can to prepare for and respond to the actual and expected negative effects of climate change and everyone has a role to play. We need to protect our crops, build homes that withstand storms and keep our drains and waterways free of garbage to help us recover or bounce back from climatic events. Learn more about the Government of St. Lucia's National Adaptation Plan and the steps you can take to protect yourself and your fellow St. Lucia. Thank you so much for staying tuned. We continue with this episode of TV30, speaking on the Marine Litter Management Action Plan. Mrs. Nathaniel, speak to us a little bit about the endorsement by the Cabinet of Ministers. What does it enable in this effort to address marine pollution in St. Lucia? A very happy day for us when it was endorsed. But of course, the process started off in 2022 and I think it was really good that, as I mentioned just now, that the Cabinet, a number of members of the Cabinet were actually part of the process when we were discussing the development, both of the National Source Inventory and the Marine Litter Management Action Plan. So they're already aware of the elements, so it was more of a natural transition towards endorsement. So we were able to submit this through our Minister, to the Cabinet of Ministers at the end of the year and by January 2023, the beginning of the year, we already had that endorsement and that is really significant because the commitment, we actually got the commitment even prior to the actual endorsement through their presence and through the proclamations that they made during the actual sessions. And I think it's important in environmental matters, in any matter really, to have that kind of involvement of your policy makers in terms of the way forward. And it will certainly help us in terms of implementation. So when we get opportunities coming forward, our Ministers already clued in in terms of the pillars that can be supported through the particular funding opportunity that may come along. Wonderful. And now that it's building momentum, what next in terms of implementation? Implementation. Even before the endorsement of this plan, we were already liaising with partners such as IUCN that Mr. Tulsi mentioned earlier on. And they were able to indicate their ability to support us with two of the pillars, that is pillar three in terms of cleanup campaigns and pillar five in terms of educational awareness and behavioral change. So through their support, we were able to develop this coastal cleanup campaign plan to take cleanups to another level, recognizing that we do do cleanups whether it be underwater cleanups like we did in 2020, last year, 2022, in terms of the international coastal cleanup, we participated in that. But to be able to take the cleanups, whether they be on underwater, roadside drain, wherever it is, to be able to do it in a more coordinated manner. And that is important in terms of the data collection aspect that Mr. Tulsi mentioned earlier on. Not just collecting and saying that you have a certain quantity of waste, 10 pounds, 50 pounds, 60 pounds, but being able to segregate, being able to itemize that waste in a manner that you know what types of waste you have, how much, what is in there that's plastic and aluminum or metal and paper and so on and so forth. But they're also helping us with the awareness aspect. We were able to develop so many different audiovisual materials and infographics that we need to be able to make sure that they get out there to the public in one way or the other, utilizing both English and Creole, but also wanting to ensure that we worked with our partners like St. Lucia Solid Waste Management Authority that is now able to revamp and revitalize the mascot Tintin and bring that back in terms of awareness raising with kids. It was so popular with the kids before. So being able to do that and get that support from IUCN to help with the revamping of that process and also helping solid waste with their public awareness and audiovisuals and airing and distribution as well. So that is all, all of this is happening with the partnering with the IUCN in terms of implementation. And we are continuing to liaise with them and others in terms of implementation under the pillars. We're working for example with IUCN in terms of the Plastic Waste Free Islands Project which has concluded, but there are components coming on where we're already continuing to work with one of our recyclers that is looking at converting plastic material to furniture. So trash to treasure. So that is something that's also coming up and we're hoping to see the promulgation of that in St. Lucia over time. So there's a lot happening in just about every aspect of the pillars and of all the five pillars and we are quite excited in terms of taking it forward. Wonderful. Mr. Tulsi, coastal cleaner plans. Speak to us about the development of that and the engagements that you've had with stakeholders so far. Yeah, thanks. Firstly, one may ask why focus on coastal cleanup? And the obvious answer is that the marine space is important. It supports livelihoods at many levels and marine litter especially plastics pose a direct threat and a growing threat to the marine environment and the biodiversity that it supports. But coastal waste, the waste from the coastal areas come from inland mostly. It is from waste that is leaked that, like I said earlier, is taken by floodwaters into the marine space. There are some aspects of marine litter that is from beach activities, that sort of thing and from boating. So that looking at coastal cleanup and addressing coastal pollution really starts with addressing pollution plan. So coastal cleanup is more of a holistic approach to managing waste generally. In terms of the action plan that's being developed, really a lot of organizations conduct these cleanup campaigns. They do from time to time. And I think I mentioned earlier the problem is that you clean up a space and you come back a few months later and you need to clean it again. So part of what we are trying to do is from the cleanup to do an analysis of the waste collected, try to identify the sources, and then using that data and information to address the sources so that future cleanups will be finding less waste. So that is really the central direction in which we are moving, not just cleanup for the obvious benefits, but also to generate that information, to inform policy, identify hotspots, and to fashion interventions that will address the source rather than cleanup, which is addressing the symptoms of the problem. And Mrs. Nathaniel, in addition to stakeholder engagements leading up to the cleanup plan, speak to us about other engagements so far. You touched a little bit on it in our first segment. But in terms of the development of the PSAs, also we've had the debate championships to speak a little bit about that in trying to spread the word about this activity and get everyone on board. Yes, it is a process that's really important in terms of really being able to get the ownership and the buying in the process. So being able to work with agencies like the Caribbean Youth Environment Network, or the National Youth Council, and the ABAGLO Dive Association, and entities such as that, because they are the ones who are able to support us in the work that we do. So they engage, for example, in cleanups, whether those cleanups be underwater cleanups, like ABAGLO Dive Association. But there are also those who do the cleanups on the land or on the beach, et cetera. So being able to partner with them, we also have, and people will be seeing us roll out a number of our documentaries, our public service announcements, our infographics on the various pillars coming up. And we want to ensure that this gets found wide. We do have the NSI, the National Source Inventory, the MLMAP itself, the Marine Liter Management Action Plan, available on public spaces, Government of St. Lucia website, but also United Nations Environment Programme, have it as well on this site to ensure that persons have that information. We want to ensure that that is available. Even in the development of the coastal cleanup plan, we were talking about the fact that while it is focused on coastal and the marine, we do recognize that, and we designed it in a way that it would still be useful to anyone doing a cleanup, whether you're doing the cleanup on the land itself or doing the cleanup in the coastal area, in the water, and so on and so forth. And of course, we know everything we do on the land impacts the water. So it's quite relevant being able to design it in that way and to make it available. So while we can't collect data for every single cleanup in St. Lucia, we would have to have a system where we've itemized or at least identified beaches or areas, coastal nature areas, for example, that are representative around the island and being able to identify those for coordinated, regular, systematic cleanups that will allow us to collect data in a way that it is useful, it is scientific to be able to allow us to see the trends and what is happening with the data, what is happening with our waste. So that is important as well. It is also worth noting and just to throw that out that further to the actual cleanup campaign plan that we're also looking at the data aspect of things in terms of looking at and enabling a framework that will allow us to be able to input our data and pull out information for informed decision-making that Mr. Tulsi referenced earlier. So we're not actually designing the database ourselves in St. Lucia because there are already efforts that are on the way regionally, globally, that we want to ensure that we tag up too in a manner that allows for even greater coordination on that global scale. Recognizing what waste management is about, we've been talking, for example, about the International Treaty that's looking at plastic pollution that is to come into effect in 2024. And that is a global effort, a recognition of a problem that is all over the world. So I'm picking up on a lot of different things in the short space of time that we have. But all of the activities that we have undertaken to date and we will continue to undertake will seek to involve not just the government but the civil society, the private sector. We want to involve the media. We want to involve the business places. And that is a continuous effort to be able to get the impact that we would like to see. Okay, and around for final words, what can we expect coming up next from MLMAP as well as imploring to the general public? Well, I want to go back to what the pillar that deals with information, education, and behavioral change because I believe that of all the pillars, that's the one that will have the greatest impact. And behavioral change is a scientific process. It's not easy to change behavior. And from the research I did to produce this work, there is sort of a conclusion, a theory that the greatest driver of behavioral change is economics. I mean, the Massey reusable bag had attached to it 25 cents charge for each bag that you take from the supermarket. And that is arguably, and it will be interesting to research that, the main driver, the returnable containers act, I think it has a different name now, is probably the way to go so that if our behaviors contain the problem of going, and I think that some effort, a lot of effort needs to be put in that area. Wonderful, DPN. I would just say quickly, really continuing to call on our partners to continue to work with us really, Solid Waste Management Authority has been phenomenal in the work that they do. And we have Senator Bureau of Standards in looking at the standards of the types of containers that are brought in in terms of quality and that's an ongoing process to improve that. Customs and excise in terms of what is brought into the country and what is not allowed in. And Massey and we have entities, we noticed that MNC as well, the single-use plastic bags as well, so that the momentum is growing. So we keep on calling on the various partners out there, those who provide funding in terms of donors like IUCN and UNEP, but those in St. Lucia as well who work with us and partner with us to be able to implement all five of our pillars to really read St. Lucia of this issue of waste and have us disposing of our waste in a manner that is sustainable in keeping with our small island developing state that is very tourism focused. I like how you compacted that. Thank you very much Mrs. Donpia Nathaniel and Mr. Tulsi from the Department of Sustainable Development, this is Nathaniel and Mr. Tulsi Consultant on the MLMAP. This is the latest effort at addressing pollution here in St. Lucia and we hope that everyone as she indicated is partnering, comes on board to support this initiative. Thank you so much for watching, for more information on the MLMAP, you could go on to the govt.lc website as well as the Department of Sustainable Development, St. Lucia Socials, or you can call our office 468-5863 for more information. My name is Jesse Leos from the Department of Sustainable Development, signing off. Do stay tuned for more NTN programming.