Beach clean up
State Department of Tourism Principal Secretary John Ololtuaa has led a beach clean-up exercise in the coastal county of Kwale to rid the coastline of marine debris. Ololtuaa says the main objective of the event was to raise public awareness about the perils of marine debris and advocate for the importance of maintaining cleanliness on the beaches.
Pollution of the ocean by plastic and trash is an all-too-common sight with devastating marine implications. PS Ololtuaa says beautiful beaches are great resources for coastal tourism development as they attract a large number of domestic and international tourists.
The PS urged the county governments bordering the Indian Ocean to keep the beaches clean through robust cleaning and clearing of debris and maintaining a serene environment for the tourism sector to thrive. “We need to foster an understanding of responsible waste management and the need for clean beaches that bolster the tourism sector and address environmental challenges linked to waste,” said Ololtuaa.
Volunteers, tourism sector stakeholders and environmentalists joined hands and picked up rubbish along the sandy walkways and those floating near the beaches. Bags of beverage bottles, plastic containers, cigarette packets and other marine debris were collected during the cleaning exercise.
Volunteers led by Tourism PS John Ololtuaa collect debris from the shoreline in Diani beach Kwale County.
He says the presence of plastics and other debris along the country’s coastlines will discourage tourists and give the beach destinations a bad name. The PS noted the marine rubbish has the potential to suffocate wildlife besides rendering the sandy white beaches untidy and hazardous to visitors and holidaymakers.
Ololtuaa led the beach clean-up exercise which was coordinated by the State Department of Tourism in conjunction with the County Government of Kwale and the exercise culminated in planting of mangrove trees at the Kongo River Beach. The tourism beach clean-up by the authorities and volunteers which focused on the Diani beach saw the collection of debris made of 800 kg of plastic waste, rubber, and pieces of glass from the 4 km beach stretch.
Also, during the beach event a number of waste bins were placed at vantage points for beachgoers to deposit their waste into. The Tourism PS noted that Diani beach is a super-priority tourism destination in Kenya having been voted the best African beach destination for seven years in a row by the World Travel Awards.
Diani beach is the preferred holiday destination for many Kenyans and foreign visitors and each year it receives a record number of holidaymakers arriving to savor its beautiful sandy beaches and tropical ambience. “Diani beach has now evolved into a much sought-after tourism destination in Kenya and we are proud of that,” said Ololtuaa.
He regretted that despite its popularity the beach lacks proper waste disposal facilities forcing beachgoers to dispose of their waste in various corners.
Tourism PS John Ololtuaa (right) when he led a beach cleanup exercise at Diani beach in Kwale County.
The PS who was accompanied by Kwale County Commissioner Stephen Orinde and Kwale County Tourism Executive Michael Mutua urged the coastal counties of Kwale, Mombasa, Kilifi and Lamu to embark on more regular and sustainable cleanup exercises to rid the coastline of marine filth.
He said the authorities should encourage beachgoers, tourists and passersby to embrace the habit of dumping waste into the bins along the shorelines. “The devolved governments along the coastline should explore sustainable ways of keeping the coastline clean through clean-up campaigns, rigorous community engagements and change of attitude of the people towards sanitation,” he said.
Ololtuaa says the counties should embark on regular beach cleaning exercises and take action to tackle marine pollution which in the long run leads to deterioration of the coastlines and beaches and dwindling tourism numbers.