KZN teen makes UN pledge to save seas
A KWAZULU-NATAL teenager was among several youngsters from all over the world chosen to launch an international campaign aimed at saving the oceans.
Representing the iSimangaliso Wetland Park World Heritage site, Buntu Sibiya, 14, travelled to New York recently to join the initiative called #MyOceanPledge.
On behalf of the entire marine World Heritage community – including 49 “jewels of the ocean” or marine World Heritage Sites – the group made a pledge to preserve “our precious oceans for future generations”, the park said in a statement.
“It was the ultimate Youth Day event: the future of our oceans – and of our natural heritage as a whole – is ultimately dependent on our youth, so we get them involved in opportunities like this, our environmental and higher education programmes and work opportunities wherever we can,” said the park’s chief executive, Andrew Zaloumis.
The event took place within the framework of the UN General Assembly in New York, and Sibiya was one of three young people selected to address the assembly on behalf of young people globally.
Her message to more than 2 000 delegates, 40 heads of state and royalty highlighted the importance of the ocean.
Sibiya said: “iSimangaliso is important to our community as a source of recreation and employment, protection of animals – like nesting turtles – and resources such as fishing, and people need to realise that plastic pollution is killing our oceans and turtles, overfishing damages our food source and ocean mining threatens our heritage.”
Sibiya, a Grade 9 pupil at Mtubatuba Christian Academy, was born and raised within the iSimangaliso Wetland Park World Heritage Site.
She was joined in the US by her father, Park Operations director Sizo Sibiya.
“What an experience!” she said. “It was an extraordinary opportunity as a first-time overseas traveller. My dad made it clear we were travelling for work, but I had fun. I was in New York for the first time, yet I had an exclusive opportunity to set foot in the UN Assembly buildings, giving a talk to a number of the world’s heads of state.”
Each of the 32 participating youth from 13 World Heritage Sites in 11 countries – including the Galapagos Islands, the Seychelles and the Great Barrier Reef – also signed their personal pledges.