On Saturday, 10 June, thousands of people participated in Environment Day Festival’s activities. Festival guests, both children and adults, had the opportunity to explore stands and workshops on environmental protection, renewable energy, recycling, and sustainable development. Environmental activists and representatives of development partners presented innovative solutions and best practices in environmental protection.

The Environment Day Festival was organized by the Association of Environmental Journalists with the support of the Swedish Embassy in Chișinău, the European Union, UNDP Moldova and the World Health Organization.

Lilia Curchi, Executive Director of the Association of Environmental Journalists, said that everyone can contribute to a better environment: “From recycling to reducing energy and water consumption, every gesture counts and helps creating a better future for generations to come. The Environment Day Festival is the place for inspiration and learning from people who are already models of local involvement.”

“Moldova is making considerable efforts to reduce the use of plastic. Right here, in this park, we have representatives of several local companies involved in plastic recycling and selective plastic collection. They are ready to invest and to use products made from recycled plastic in their economic activities,” said Iordanca-Rodica Iordanov, Minister of Environment, at the opening event of the festival.

Sweden is among the biggest supporters of environmental protection projects. In her speech addressed to festival guests, Katarina Fried, Ambassador of Sweden to Chișinău, pointed out that “every year the world produces over 400 million tons of new plastics and less than 10 % of it is recycled. Instead, it risks end up in and harming our nature, our wildlife and ourselves. Here in Moldova, Sweden is proud to support initiatives aiming at improving waste management together with partners such as UNDP, EBRD and EcoContact. Environmental and climate change and safeguarding our biodiversity are maybe the most urgent challenges to our earth today. They are complex and concern all sectors of society. They cannot be solved by one country or one organization alone. Like plastic pollutions, these challenges do not recognize national boundaries, but affect all societies and our ecosystem across the globe. Therefore, we need to work on these issues together and across borders. We need to continue to push for multilateral and regional agreements and we must act together - also locally.”

A recent study on plastic waste in Moldova, supported by UNDP Moldova and the Global Environment Facility (GEF), shows that the country is importing more and more plastics, and the plastic waste generated is increasing exponentially. Referring to the findings of this study, Andrea Cuzyova, UNDP Deputy Resident Representative to the Republic of Moldova said that “Moldova, like many other countries, is not immune to the challenges posed by plastic pollution. UNDP has supported Moldova with the first national study on plastic waste that shown that the amount of plastic has grown steadily by about four percent per year. Only 3% of the overall plastic waste is recycled. The rest ends up on our lands, water and ecosystems causing pollution and leading to serious health issues. UNDP Moldova remains committed to supporting the country to address plastic pollution. We will continue to provide technical assistance, build awareness, enhance capacities, and enable funding opportunities to promote sustainable practices and innovative solutions, and take steps towards reducing plastic waste, promoting recycling and better waste management. With the support of our partners, we are implementing projects and programmes on waste management and recycling and reducing the use of plastic.”

Air pollution and the impact of climate change pose major risks to the health and daily lives of Moldovan citizens, said Alexandru Voloc, coordinator of health programmes at WHO Moldova. “One in every four deaths in the world could be prevented if it were not for environmental factors that we can control. By working to protect the environment and reduce the amount of plastic, we will also reduce deaths and contribute to improving our health”.

The Environment Day Festival reached the eighth edition.