KUWAIT: People participate in a cleanup drive at the Ushairej beach yesterday to mark the International Coastal Cleanup Day. - Photos by Yasser Al-Zayyat

KUWAIT: A local team of volunteers organized a cleanup drive at the Ushairej beach yesterday to mark the International Coastal Cleanup Day. US Ambassador to Kuwait Alina L Romanowski participated in the event, organized by the Green Hands Environmental Team, and featuring representatives from other NGOs in Kuwait.

As an ambitious global environmental initiative, the world celebrated the International Coastal Cleanup Day yesterday by organizing various campaigns and activities to clean seacoasts and beaches. These campaigns aim to raise environmental awareness and the need to preserve seacoasts and beaches, and to shed light on the problems and threats to the environment, thus contributing to maintaining its ecological balance and ensuring its biodiversity.

US Ambassador to Kuwait Alina L Romanowski participates in the cleanup.

On the International Coastal Cleanup Day, the Media official of Kuwait's diving team, Dr Dhari Al-Huwail said that the team participated in the global campaign to clean the beaches by cleaning the southern coast of Fahaheel in cooperation with the Kuwait Municipality and volunteers. He noted that the team chose the southern coast as a cleaning site on this occasion due to the accumulation of a lot of plastic waste carried by the northern winds that blew over Kuwait a few days ago, indicating that the team was able to remove two tons of plastic waste.

Moreover, he stressed the danger of plastic waste and its negative impact on the marine and coastal environment and its organisms, as it destroys thousands of sea creatures and birds, wishing more penalties for violators to ensure the safety of the environment and coasts. He also said that the team continues to protect the marine and coastal environment throughout the year, with the participation of many governmental and private agencies, and it has distinguished international partnerships, most notably the environmental cooperation with the United Nations Environment Program.

Meanwhile, Chairman of the Wildlife Protection Committee of the Kuwait Society for the Protection of the Environment, Dr Manaf Behbehani, said that the coasts are among the most important natural environments due to their biological diversity. He noted that Kuwait enjoys a seacoast extending from north to south with a length of about 325 km, and the nine islands have a coastline of 175 km, which is considered a natural wealth.

Behbehani stressed that Kuwait attaches great importance to protecting the coasts and their vital and non-vital resources, as stated in Article 100 of the Environmental Law, as it includes severe financial penalties and imprisonment for those who cause the destruction of coastal environments.

In the meantime, Director-General of Public Relations and Media at the Environment Public Authority, Sheikha Al-Ibrahim, said that the International Coastal Cleanup Day is a global initiative identified by the United Nations and celebrated by the world in many activities to clean coastal and marine areas and aims to raise environmental awareness. She added that the authority chose the beaches of Kubbar Island as a cleaning site on this occasion, as it is one of the most beautiful Kuwaiti islands, for the diversity of its wildlife.