By Bill W. Cooper
The Program Officer of Environmental Justice Foundation (EJL), Augustine Fayiah wants the government and the citizens of Liberia to collaborate in tackling waste across the country.
The issue of uncontrollable waste across the country is considered as a major health hazard that citizens have to join efforts with the government to find a healthier remedy.
Speaking over the weekend as a panelist on the topic, ‘The Menaces of Waste and the Essence of Synergies’ at the Green Touch Symposium in Paynesville, Mr. Fayiah intimated that there is a need for awareness on waste management across Liberia.
According to him, over the past two decades, laudable actions have been taken by national, regional and international stakeholders in the efforts against waste and climate change but stated that nothing much has been done to buy this government to address the situation.
He stressed that though it would be a huge dis-service to say nothing has been done in the phase of the colossal threat posed by waste and climate change; he emphasized that there is need for more effort to exert in addressing the malice.
“As I have indicated, the issue of the threat of waste and climate change is proportional to the scale of human activities. Efforts however, at reducing these threats do not match up to the scale of the current and imminent danger of waste and climate change,” he asserted.
In response to what should be done to address the problem, Mr. Fayiah further revealed that there is a concern that the people on earth have to brainstorm on and work collectively address waste pollution.
“So, we need to strengthen current efforts in a meaningful, realistic, and sincere manner as well as to robustly agitate for the enactment of applicable laws and regulations against waste and climate change,” the EJL stated.
“In strive to mitigate waste pollution, it is important to note the causes of waste to appraise our potential and galvanize our response at addressing it. As waste is generally tied to our activities, so are the causes to the types of waste,” the EJL Program Officer noted.
He maintained that the impacts of waste to a larger extent are negative externalities and as such, these are by products which are not accounted for in the course of human productive activities thus negatively impacting mankind and by large the universe.
