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Come Saturday, September 19, 2009, members of the
local environment community will mark the fifteenth anniversary
celebrations of International Coastal Clean-Up Day (ICCD), in
Jamaica. The National Environment and Planning Agency is partnering
with various agencies to clean three beaches in St. Catherine,
Kingston and St. Andrew and Portland.Volunteers will start clean-up
activities at the Half Moon Bay, Hellshire, St. Catherine and Port
Royal, in Kingston at 8:00 a.m. is schedule to end at 12:00 pm.
Meanwhile, on Sunday, September 20, the Global
Environment Facility (GEF)/ Integrating Watershed and Coastal Areas
Management (IWCAM) Project, which is housed at NEPA in collaboration
the Portland Environmental Protection Association (PEPA), will clean
the beach at Ennis Bay, Portland. That activity starts at 9:00 a.m.
and is schedule to end at 1:00 pm.
Local ICCD activities will be sponsored by the
Tourism Enhancement Fund this year, withsupport from members of the
private sector, local environment non-government organizations, as
well as other community-based groups.
Approximately 6.8 million pounds of debris were
removed from 6,485 sites in about 100 countries, by the 400,000
volunteers who participated in ICCD activities, last year. ICCD
which is, traditionally, celebrated on the third Saturday in
September each year is coordinated by the United States based Ocean
Conservancy. It is the largest volunteer effort to help protect the
world’s oceans.
NEPA is inviting members of the public and
other interested stakeholders to support the
various local clean-up initiatives. Persons who
wish to volunteer can contact Monique Curtis and Kapleton Hall at
the following telephone number and extensions: 754-7540 ext. 2215 or
2226. Information is also available at the Jamaica Environment Trust
(JET). They may be reached at: 9603693 for information on other
clean-up sites, locally.
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