Hanoi (VNA) – The United Nations Educational,Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) in cooperation with the Cu LaoCham - Hoi An World Biosphere Reserve held a ceremony on December 11 to awardwinning teams of the Youth Innovative Ideas for an Ocean without Plasticprogramme.
The programme, within the framework of the Youth andInnovation 4 Ocean Initiative implemented by UNESCO in partnership with theCoca Cola Foundation, aimed to promote the key role of youth in the sustainabledevelopment of Vietnam.
Three teams won the first prizes worth 70 million VND (over3,000 USD) each to translate their waste collection ideas into reality at the reserve.
Huynh Ngoc Thai Anh from the Green River, one of the threewinning team, said the team hopes their idea can be helpful to many people.
Michael Croft, UNESCO Representative to Vietnam, stressedthe programme enabled youth to build ideas via science and technology applicationfor a common goal of ocean sustainability in the future.
Nguyen Que Lam, Deputy Director-General of the VietnamAdministration of Seas and Islands, wished these creative ideas will bereplicated in contribution to Vietnam’s national action plan on ocean plasticwaste and the plan on sustainable development maritime economy.
About 8 million metric tonnes of plastic are discarded intothe ocean annually with a significant amount originating in Asia, includingVietnam, UNESCO said. At this rate, by 2050, the ocean is on track to containmore plastic than fish./.