Earth Day focuses on ‘Green the Cities, Green the Oceans’

ON April 22, 2018, the month-long celebration of Earth Day ends with various events centering on the theme “Green the Cities, Green the Oceans.”

Multi-sectoral groups, organizations, institutions, and concerned citizens are converging to raise consciousness and inspire action to save Mother Earth.

The culminating events will start with bikers parading on Metro Manila streets from Quezon City to Pasay

by the Manila Bay area for the opening of the Advocacy Fair.

Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Roy Cimatu will lead the Fair’s opening rites and speak on the challenges besetting the environment today.

Earth watchers point to dismal solid waste management practices as the main culprit in environmental degradation, transforming our marine ecosystems into massive waste dumpsites.

The Philippines ranks third among the highest source of plastic pollution in global waters, just after China and Indonesia, according to a report by the Ocean Conservancy and McKinsey Center for Business and Environment in 2015.

As the Philippines’ population rapidly increases, our country’s daily waste generation is projected to increase to 43,684 tons per day by 2018. Additionally, out of the 42,000 barangays in the Philippines, only 13,020 (31 percent) are served by Materials Recovery Facilities (MRF) leaving the majority of our country’s waste uncollected, unsegregated, and congesting the oceans (DENR-EMB, 2014). If business remains unchanged, the year

in the world’s oceans.

In response to this pressing concern, the theme for the Philippine Earth Day 2018 Celebration focuses on reducing wastes from single-use plastics and ending plastic pollution.