The 2018 Young Champion of the Earth for Africa, Shady Rabab, recently visited Kibera during his first trip to Sub-Saharan Africa. His organization, the Rabab Luxor Art Collective, raises awareness about plastic pollution and turns waste into colorful musical instruments.
As a metaphor for the back-to-basics simplicity needed to stem the toxic tide of plastic pollution engulfing the world’s seas, the image of a dhow sailing boat sliding silently through the tranquil waters of the Indian Ocean is peerless. Especially if that dhow is made from recycled plastic and thousands of discarded flip flops.
Lamu, 24 January 2019 – Kenya’s revolutionary Clean Seas-Flipflopi expedition – a boat made entirely from re-used plastic collected on beach clean-ups – set sail this morning, kicking off the first leg of its journey towards Zanzibar. The day before the departure, the crew got their sails ready for the journey cheered on by the local community and members of the press.
UN Environment has been working with a broad range of partners to better assess the health of lake ecosystems in India, Kenya and the Philippines.
Economic activity in and around Lake Naivasha, and the rapidly growing population, have placed mounting environmental pressure on this important source of freshwater in central southern Kenya.
As the Flipflopi glided towards Jomo Kenyatta Public Beach in Mombasa this week, scores of people gathered on the sand, craning their necks to catch a glimpse of the flamboyant dhow made from recycled plastic that has become an African icon for a new plastic revolution.
As the sun beats down on a traditional loom in Burkina Faso’s morning heat, a curious shiny material starts to emerge. Not your usual cotton texture, the weft criss-crosses over-and-under, and the woven product is smooth and sparkling.
Seven years ago in 2012, a United Nations Security Council Resolution placed an embargo on the export of charcoal from Somalia.
Inger Andersen, Executive Director, UN Environment Programme
There is something in the air. I am not talking about pollution or greenhouse gas emissions. I am talking about the change humanity needs to address these and other environmental challenges, which have placed our planet and societies in imminent peril.
In Kenya, over 70 universities are being called on by the UN Environment Programme and the Kenyan Government to work together and transform their campuses to be the “greenest in the world”. This comes as Strathmore University in Nairobi has put in place one of the greenest campuses in Africa and is offering its support to other Kenyan universities.
