Nationwide initiative sees cleanups in all islands
Vice President Faisal Naseem and several government officials also participated in the national clean-up drive.
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By
Aminath Shifleen
At sunrise Saturday morning, every island in the country was hectic. Very early on a weekend day, a large number of students went to school in their activity uniforms. The men and women of many households also went out after tea time, with empty sacks, knives and other tools.
Parley Maldives, an organisation working on resolving plastic pollution, on Saturday organised an activity aimed at cleaning the beaches, coastal areas and shorelines of all islands across the country. In connection with World Ocean Day, which was formally celebrated on June 8, many people from every island came out in the largest clean-up event held in recent times.
School children, parents and teachers from each island participated in the clean-up, which is organised by Parley in collaboration with the education ministry and the Maldives Association of Tourism Industry (MATI).
Vice President Faisal Naseem and several government officials also participated in the national clean-up drive.
Held from 6 am to 6 pm on Saturday, the event will be divided into four parts:
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Beach clean-up - Designated areas will be cleaned in two hours; his is a cleaning activity held both in the morning and evening
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Beach and ocean clean-up - An ocean cleaning activity conducted jointly by resorts, dive centres and safari boats using diving and snorkelling equipment
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Ocean pledge - This is a pledge to resolve not to litter the ocean and to reject the use of plastic; The pledge, which is open on the Parley website, has so far attracted 10,800 participants
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Ocean lesson - Lectures by relevant experts on the oceans; the speeches will be broadcast live on social media and national TV from 2:30 pm on Saturday
