Namport hosts its first ever Environmental Week

The Namibian Ports Authority successfully launched its first ever Environmental Week last week Monday, until Friday, 10 June 2022. The activities were in commemoration of World Oceans Day (08 June) and World Environmental Day (05 June), an annual day set aside for encouraging awareness and action geared towards protecting the environment.  The day was celebrated under the theme “ONLY ONE EARTH” which calls for collective transformative action on a global scale to celebrate, protect and restore our planet.  

The Environmental Week at Namport, which will be an annual event of our calendar, is part of the company’s sustainability drive and realizing its commitment to creating a sustainable organization by protecting,  and where possible, enhancing its social, environmental, and economic impacts, preventing pollution, ensuring good governance, reducing social inequality, and driving sustainable economic development.

The activities included the

• Beat Plastic Pollution Competition with the aim to encourage employees to shift from the use of plastic bags to other forms of environmentally friendly bags when doing their shopping;
• Tree Planting inside the port to create green belts as part of Namport’s
   corporate sustainability drive;
• Port Clean-up campaign to ensure the creation of a conducive environment for the company’s port users, tourists, and vessels;
• Exhibiting at the World Oceans Day hosted by the Municipality of Walvis Bay (10-11 June 2022).  

The Chief Executive Officer of Namport, Mr Andrew Kanime commented that the integration of sustainability into Namport’s core business practices was essential to future-proof the Ports Authority against the rapidly changing global environment. 

As a build up towards the festivities, all staff members received a shopping bag to promote the discontinuing use of plastic shopping bags.

The “plastic-free challenge” sought to shine the spotlight on the huge environmental problem plastic waste creates in our environment. Globally, more than 300 million tons of plastic are produced every year, half of which is used to create single-use items such as shopping bags, cups and straws and if discarded improperly, plastic waste can harm the environment and its biodiversity.

Plastic pollution is a widespread problem affecting the marine environment. It threatens ocean health, the health of marine species, food safety and quality, human health, coastal tourism, and contributes greatly to climate change.

“These types of initiatives such as the Namport Environmental Week is Namport’s contribution in curtailing the negative impacts pollution has on our global environment”, said Mr Kanime.

SOURCE: Namport