Children aged four to twenty-four, who are members of the Little Angels of the Environment Cameroon, LANEC, have cleaned the Wamie portion of the Kribi beach in Ocean Division of the South Region of Cameroon.

The event took place under the theme: “Multiplication of trees for mother earth, brought together children to embark on a clean-up on beaches to get rid of non-biodegradable plastics and litter.”

According to the National Coordinator and Founder of LANEC, Priscilla Song, the Kribi beach cleaning exercise is part of an operation by the young people to pave the way for the 2015 and beyond action agenda of the UN Millennium Development Goals, MDGs.

She told The Post on August 17 in Yaounde that members of LANEC moved from all over Cameroon to support their peers in the exercise in Kribi.

“During the guided activity which involved picking, identification and recording of the types of litter, the exercise was also marked by the planting of a good number of ornamental trees. Pictures of touristic sites shot will assist the kids in producing a documentary around the beach as well as articles for the maiden LANEC magazine on the environment,” Song disclosed.

Meanwhile, in a statement, the Public Relations Officer of the Yaounde-based youth association, Leanna Ekukole, said the activity carried out within the framework of the annual summer holiday action plan was aimed at educating and instilling in the children important habits of marine biodiversity protection. “This is in line with the vision of the Earth Child Institute in the Global Action for Children and the United Nations Environment Programme/TUNZA plant for the planet initiative,” Leanna noted.

In addition to sensitising the children on the need of a plastic-free coastal marine ecosystem, issues such as waste management around the sea, water and sanitation, among others, were also highlighted. The National Coordinator said the Kribi event was just one of their summer holiday activities. She said, last year, similar sensitisation activities on environmental issues were conducted in the Northwest Region.

“Our gatherings are also avenues for the youth to share experiences from national and international conferences. It was agreed in Kribi that the schools represented should organise conferences as well as reactivate the LANEC organs in their various institutions when schools re-open.

A team was put in place to, evaluate projects in different schools and make proposals with a keen eye on best practices for participation in regional and international conferences from now onwards,” Song told The Post.