Building Plastic Waste Free Island Communities (Client: IUCN)

Ocean health

The Context & Challenge:

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is a global organization committed to demonstrating how biodiversity is essential in addressing pressing global challenges, including climate change, sustainable development, and food security. Specifically, a critical issue IUCN seeks to tackle is the impact of plastic waste pollution on ocean environments.
Small Island Developing States (SIDS) and Least Developed Countries (LDC) are particularly affected by this problem, as they often lack proper waste management infrastructure, collection systems, recycling systems, and have issues with the import and export of plastic waste. To address this issue, along with support from the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad), IUCN initiated projects in the Caribbean, Oceania, and West Africa to combat plastic pollution in these regions.
Recognizing the urgency of the plastic pollution problem in SIDS and LDCs, IUCN partnered with Ubuntoo to create a comprehensive platform called the “Plastic Pollution Solutions” community, aimed at showcasing waste solutions and facilitating worldwide collaboration among stakeholders.

The Deliverable:

In partnership with IUCN, Ubuntoo has developed the “Plastic Pollution Solutions” platform to provide a space for stakeholders from SIDS and LDCs to come together, share knowledge, and discuss best practices to combat plastic waste.
The platform not only showcases the ongoing efforts to promote circular economies on SIDS and LCDs, but also boasts innovative, commercially viable solutions to support these regions in achieving their plastic pollution reduction goals. Additionally, it serves as a repository of policy knowledge and proposed interventions to guide effective action.

The Result:

IUCN and Ubuntoo are successfully facilitating worldwide collaboration through the platform and webinar series. This ongoing project will continue to help stakeholders source and implement solutions to reduce and prevent plastic pollution in Small Developing Islands (SDIS) and Least Developed Countries (LDC).