2015 Ryukyu Islands Coastal Cleanup: World O.C.E.A.N.’s 15 Clean Beach Challenge

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By E. Heinrich-Sanchez

It’s time to start planning for the September-November coastal cleanup season part of the I Love Okinawa Campaign®. The main event is around the corner with cleanup campaigns in collaboration with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and led by the three top BINGO’s. Now, what is a BINGO? Big International Non Governmental Organizations, which are supported by their countries’ foreign affairs departments. as “Cleanup Diplomacy”. Over the next few weeks, I will feature each campaign.

World Ocean Culture & Education Action Network (World O.C.E.A.N. NGO) will be coordinating the Ryukyu Islands Coastal Cleanup (Ryukyu ICC) joining Ocean Conservancy (USA) for its 30th annual International Coastal Cleanup (ICC), Let’s Do it World Cleanup (Estonia) and Clean Up the World (Australia). Each offers a unique set of tools to connect the local to the global. Prefecture wide cleanups (including Amami Islands) can be registered from September 17th to November 11th. The aI Love Okinawa Campaign® started in 1992, and our members co-founded with the 11th Division HQ of the Japan Coast Guard, the Okinawa Clean Coast Network (OCCN).

Help us reach our goal of 11,111 registered volunteers and 1,111 hands on the beach and underwater. Join us on facebook. PADI Project A.W.A.R.E. is the ICC underwater partner. It’s easy to join! Sign up to Cleanup! Sponsors are welcome!

Volunteers sign up to lead a cleanup or join an existing event. Start a Clean Beach Club in your area and collect valuable Marine Debris Data, then enjoy the clean beach with friends and family! Sign up at http://www.signuptocleanup.org, for Japanese/bi-lingual support e-mail edo@okinawaocean.org For guidance on how to start a campaign, please check out our page at http://www.letsdoitworld.org/start

On-line tools will help us keep track of the trash collected. From tallying the marine litter on the beach to mapping where the waste if being processed, we hope that together we can reduce the impact of carelessness and overconsumption.

From September 19th special youth volunteers group will tackle the trash in Oura Bay at Sedake, followed by a BBQ. What better way to celebrate a clean beach than by having a responsible gathering.

Other volunteers can join us to help tally the marine debris and clean up the adjacent beaches around Cape Maeda.

The third Sunday has been the Clean Beach Day in Okinawa since 1992.

For more information please e-mail chiefnavi@worldocean2033.com

Life’s a “clean” beach & then you sail on…!

For comments and suggestions on this article, please contact edo@okinawaocean.org.

DISCLAIMER: The views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and not those of Japan Update, Ryukyu Press or their employees.