by Kevon Browne
St. Kitts and Nevis (WINN): Six countries in the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) are partnering with the Government of Norway’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs to reduce the amount of waste that negatively affects marine life in the Caribbean through the Reduction in Marine Litter (ReMLit) project.
According to a statement on the OECS website the project is an approximately US$ 3 million funded initiative implemented under the OECS Ocean Governance and Fisheries Programme.
The ReMLit project aims to reduce and control marine pollution in the Eastern Caribbean and was launched in 2019 with an expected completion by 2022.
The ReMLit Project is supporting six OECS Member States through project funding and technical advice to help create an environment to change and address marine pollution in the Eastern Caribbean.
The member stated are:
Antigua and Barbuda,
Commonwealth of Dominica,
Grenada,
Montserrat,
St. Lucia and,
St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
The ReMLit project has three main objectives under its mandate:
enhancing policy and legislation for effective reduction and management of waste,
increasing the awareness of issues relating to marine litter and,
undertaking concrete interventions to reduce and control litter in the marine environment.
To achieve such goals, the project is approaching the implementation through a 6-point plan:
Enhance the enabling environment and coordinate mechanisms for waste management,
Facilitate new business opportunities or stimulate existing initiatives for material recycling, reuse or/and substitution,
Develop fiscal and other incentive programs (for businesses and households) to reduce plastics and Styrofoam use, and encourage sustainable production, recycling and reuse where appropriate,
Develop a strategy to improve the transboundary/transnational movement of plastics and other waste within the OECS to enhance economies of scale and provide affordable secondary raw materials for waste recycling enterprises.
Support enhancement of national policy, legislation and fiscal incentive frameworks.
Develop and implement community-based interventions that contribute to reducing marine litter.
The ReMLit project supports and directly engages with policy-makers, technical personnel and middle management, agencies responsible for ocean governance Biodiversity and Ecosystems Management, private sector, and other relevant civil society agencies and communities in each participating country.
In a video from the OECS, several officials in participating member states spoke about the expectations of the project.
