The Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) Director of Strategy and Change Mr Edwin Wanyonyi, in collaboration with other partners, launched the christened dhow on 22nd September 2020. The nine-metre dhow is the first one ever to be made entirely from 10 tonnes of plastic collected during beach clean-ups along the Kenya Coast.

According to Mr Wanyonyi who was speaking on behalf of KWS Director-General, the dhow was brought to KWS headquarters in March 2019 and it has since then been a major attraction for visitors. He further added that KWS had engaged several stakeholders in continuous clean-up exercises and will continue to look for different ways to ensure that its parks continue to be plastic-free.

While appreciating KWS’ growing partnership with UNEP and Flipflopi’s founders, Mr Wanyonyi acknowledged that Flipflopi was destined for Lake Victoria in Kisumu before proceeding to Kisumu Impala.

UNEP’S Director and Regional Representative for Africa, Ms Juliette Biao  Koudenoukpo, on her part, welcomed the partnership with KWS citing UNEP’s support of the expedition to pass on a message to inspire and raise awareness. She singled out how Flipflopi served as a key exhibit at the fourth session at the United Nations Environment Assembly in Kenya (UNEA-4) in showcasing the spirit of conservation in Africa. She said that the planet’s ability to cope with plastic waste is already overwhelmed sighting that only nine per cent (9%) of the nine billion tonnes of plastic produced has been recycled. The rest ends up in landfills, dumps and the environment.

Ms Koudenoukpo acknowledged that plastic pollution is a trans-boundary concern which requires action between governments, the private sector and consumers. She recommended a regional co-operation and action plan to prevent further pollution. Nevertheless, she lauded Kenya’s bans on single-use plastic bags in 2017 and single-use plastics in national parks during the World Environment Day.

Despite expressing concerns over the increased single-use plastic use in Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs) which is attributed to Covid-19 pandemic, she reaffirmed UNEP’s commitment to helping the Kenyan government and its people, as well as other neighbouring countries in the fight against marine pollution.

Ali Skanda and Dipesh Pabari expressed their gratitude to KWS, UNEP and other stakeholders for their support on the Flipflopi project, which they started in 2016.

Mr Skanda sighted the protection of the environment as a much more pressing necessity in today’s world. For that reason, he said they were already in the process of formulating a petition to stop the single-use plastic use across East Africa and the world. Mr Pabari on his part said the dhow’s construction and voyages will show that Africa is leading the fight on environmental issues. He appreciated the new partners coming on board and the on-going support of the UN and KWS.

Flipflopi made its maiden voyage across the Indian Ocean on September 15 2020. The dhow covered a distance of 500 kilometres from Lamu to Zanzibar. These voyages are meant to draw the world’s attention to the devastating effects of pollution in the region’s most important freshwater ecosystem, by highlighting the upstream impact of pollutants on the Lake Environment and human health.

The expedition is supported by the governments of Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the French Development Agency (AFD), UN Live and private sectors.

Source: https://bit.ly/31WMi7O