On World Wetlands Day Tuesday, Senegalese environmental protection NGOs mobilised several dozen volunteers, as well as water and forestry officials, to clean up parts of the mangrove swamps and surrounding coastline in the Joal-Fadiouth marine protected area, a biodiversity sanctuary noted for its sea turtles. Due to the lack of an adequate waste collection system, the sea current creates piles of debris which endanger the biodiversity in the area. The Senegalese Minister of Petroleum and Energy, Sophie Gladima, has promised that about fifty young people from the commune will receive environmental protection training. After having undergone the various training programmes in environmental protection — as well as scuba diving and maritime biology, the youth volunteers will have access to jobs around the wetlands and in the oil companies operating in the area.
SOURCE: AFRICA NEWS