A reflection on environmental and pollution matters concerning Honiara
I suppose at this time of the year, in mid-December, it is common for many to reflect on the happenings and events of the closing year, and even to much earlier times.
I have been doing some reflecting of my own this week and my thoughts prompted by environment concerns, energy efficiency and the effective treatment and disposal of waste.
Rather strange, one might think why such issues should bother me at my age and especially as my thoughts have been largely focused on the Solomon Islands.
Let me explain.
A few weeks ago, the Prime Minister spoke about the government’s plan to modernize the Honiara Central Business District with the construction of green friendly offices to ensure offices would be resource efficient and environmentally responsible.
My initial reaction to what the Prime Minister said was to envisage a green environment for Honiara very much like what I know Singapore to be today, a magnificent garden city.
I guess that is not what the Prime Minister intended and simply had a primary focus on energy efficiency.
Much earlier on in 2019, I read of plans by those responsible for readying Honiara for the major event of staging the 2023 Pacific Games, that the city would be transformed into an environment filled with green space.
Much work as gone into boosting tourism in the past year and the international airport at Munda with its direct air link connections undoubtedly has played a significant part in the tourism strategy.
In the excellent SI National Solid Waste Strategy and Action Plan 2009 – 2014, there was a reference to tourism in the Solomon Islands which read, quote:
“The country is able to offer a competitive advantage in tourism opportunities based on a clean and pollution-free environment, nature and cultural tourism. Everyone wants to live in and visit places that are clean, fresh and healthy. A city or community with poor disposal practices, that is dirty or that has sewage treatment issues does not attract investors and tourists. Poor waste management indirectly has impact on the country’s gross domestic product (GDP). Tourism is termed the cleanest industry compared with manufacturing, which creates a lot of pollution and consumes natural resources. Nonetheless, waste associated with tourism cannot be ignored because it requires management and adoption of best practices. Solomon Islands tourism is yet to reach its full potential. The Ministry of Culture and Tourism is embarking on strengthening finance and technical support to business operators, strengthening coordination with other line ministries, improving current strategies and policies and providing consistent support and capacity to service providers, like the Solomon Islands Visitors Bureau (SIVB) to promote and market Solomon Islands as destination for the world. According to SIVB reports, tourists were disappointed with the current waste management system in the capital city. The capital is the gateway to the provinces and is supposed to show a convincing and attractive scenario to any tourists entering the country. Holiday tourists refuse to stop over in Honiara where the majority of hotels are located; as a result, SIVB cannot package tours in Honiara and in provincial urban centres. The government will need to reinforce its commitment to improve land use planning, the attitude of people, legislation, partnership and networking with important stakeholders to ensure Honiara provides an environment conducive for tourism.”
Clearly, I have ventured into the broader concerns over waste management when referring to an environment to see more tourists, and I want to add a little more of this by referring to the pollution impacts from hospitals and clinics, but first let me say that I hope the impositions identified in 2009 in the report I referred to, have been attended to and Honiara is truly on course to be become the friendly, green, unpolluted city that all will expect to find in a national capital proudly hosting such a prestigious event as the Pacific Islands Games.
Referring back to waste and pollution impacts on health outcomes, according to the 2014 SPREP PacWaste reported, I have sighted, it said the Solomon Islands was faced with a challenge over a lack of a waste management framework to manage hospital waste, limited knowledge of health officers on policies, legislation and regulations.
I venture to ask whether those earlier issues have been overcome and whether there is now in place an effective healthcare waste management policy for the proper segregation and storage of health care waste and its disposal.
Yours sincerely
Frank Short
