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. Curious to learn more about this project? Download this factsheet.
Do you want to learn more about the mountain(s) of plastic waste and our plastic waste footprint in remote and mountainous areas? Do you want to find out what can be done at local, regional and global level in terms of policy, infrastructure, financing and awareness-raising to tackle plastic pollution in remote and mountainous areas? Click here to explore our new interactive storymap, developed in cooperation with Grid-Arendal.
Explore these brochures to find out what you can do to tackle plastic waste in remote and mountainous areas: As a national park/protected area manager (below right) brochure or as a policy-maker (below left) brochure.