Photo: ©Jason Sheldrake
Remote and mountainous areas are among the areas that are the most affected by plastic waste. Yet, while much attention in recent years has focused on the impacts of plastic waste on the world’s oceans, pollution in mountain regions has rarely made the headlines.
Plastic is the most common type of waste found in remote and mountainous areas. The rapid increase of plastic waste in these regions is driven, to a large extent, by tourism. Adding to the burden, microplastics which travel long distances and often end up in remote and mountainous areas from the Arctic to the Alps, the Rockies and Mount Everest.
Meanwhile, remote and mountainous areas, especially in developing countries, face unique challenges in minimizing and managing plastic waste, such:
-
remoteness;
- difficult natural and climate conditions;
- absence of economies of scale
- limited financial and human resources; and
- lack of infrastructure.
The project “Plastic Waste in Remote and Mountainous Areas” seeks to address these challenges by strengthening capacity and awareness in remote and mountainous areas. A mix of education, outreach and pilots on the ground seek to reduce the amounts of plastic waste in these areas and to ensure its environmentally sound management.
Would you like to learn more about the challenges of plastic waste pollution in the mountainous and remote areas? Watch this video developed by the Secretariat in collaboration with GRID-Arendal.
The project is financed by the Government of Norway, France, Netherlands and Germany, the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation, Norwegian Retailer’s Environment Fund. It was launched on the occasion of the International Mountain Day on 11 December 2019 in Geneva, Switzerland. The BRS Secretariat cooperates with relevant partners in the implementation of the project and related activities. The BRS is a member of the Mountain Partnership and has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with three global snow sports associations: the Interski International, the International Ski Instructors Association (ISIA), and the International Association of Education and Science in Snowsports (IAESS). The MoU establishes a framework for collaboration on collecting data and information on plastic waste in mountainous areas and developing educational and awareness-raising materials and activities for snow sports instructors, athletes, and youth interested in snow sports.