The pilot project, launched in Manado, North Sulawesi, is part of a collaboration between ASEAN and Germany under the umbrella of a project titled 3RproMar – "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle to Protect the Marine Environment and Coral Reefs."
"Marine plastic litter is a global threat that strongly affects the local level in coastal cities like Manado," the German Embassy in Jakarta noted in a statement received here on Wednesday.
According to the embassy, the city’s abundant underwater resources and marine environment make it particularly vulnerable to the negative impacts of marine plastic litter on the fisheries and tourism sectors.
These collaborative efforts to increase awareness, enhance waste prevention and improve waste management will especially benefit the region, considering that Manado is the provincial capital of North Sulawesi, the location of Bunaken National Park and the Coral Triangle area and home to one of the richest marine biodiversity in the world, it stated.
Earlier, German Ambassador to Indonesia Ina Lepel virtually met with Mayor of Manado, Andrei Angouw, on Wednesday (February 8) to discuss the strengthening of international cooperation on waste management in the city through this pilot project.
With Mayor Andrei Angouw, Ambassador Lepel discussed ways that Germany can cooperate with the Municipal Government of Manado in improving waste collection, recycling, and reduction of waste generation in the city in the face of the global plastic crisis.
These efforts will not only help to avoid the wasteful use of resources and pollution caused by waste leakage but also to unlock new business models and contribute to job creation, Ambassador Lepel remarked.
At the national level, the project is partnered with the Indonesian Ministry of Environment and Forestry that had signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) with the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ) as the implementing agency for the project on January 30 to address the issue of plastic waste and marine litter in Indonesia.
Germany is a leader in recycling, with over 70 percent of collected waste being recycled annually.
Ambassador Lepel was also glad to extend German support to Indonesia and the city of Manado under the framework of the ASEAN-German development cooperation.
She emphasized that regulation and public awareness are the main keys to ensure the success of the project and the importance of waste management in Southeast Asia.
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Reporter: Yuni Arisandy Sinaga
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
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