Special topics
Friends of the Nation, an environmental civil society has issued a communiqué; calling upon the government to vote for the preservation of the whales in the upcoming International Whaling Commission meeting to be held in Brazil in September of this year. According to the release, the society has beckoned the government to lead by example in putting their full weight behind proposals such as the South Atlantic Whale Sanctuary (SAWS) which seek to promote biodiversity, conservation and non-lethal utilisation of whales.
The preservation of the marine vertebrates has been cited as grounds for improving local tourism activities such as whale watching which further cushion the local tourism income. The call upon government to support the preservation of whales feeds into its mandate in supporting domestic and international policies on wildlife conservation regulations. In a policy brief, by Friends of the Nation, it was accounted that whales in other parts of the world have died due to the consumption of plastic waste material from the ocean. This raises concern for the increasing plastic waste pollution on the shores of our beaches.
