15 January 2019
Dumping waste poses health risks to people, animals and fishes but also detracts from the image of Solomon Islands as an attractive and clean tourist destination.
Anyone looking at the photograph featuring in today’s article in the Islands Sun newspaper which accompanied a story about the dumping of waste in local rivers would conclude that Honiara City is not the picture post card image one would expect to see of a national capital vying for an increase in overseas visitors.
Over many years I have seen clean-up and beatification projects carried out by successive volunteer workers but, almost overnight, witnessed acts of vandalism destroy the many plants, shrubs and trees the volunteers lovingly planted to improve the city’s environs.
Apart from willful acts of vandalism I have read time after time how concerned citizens have complained about the way in which people dispose of their household rubbish and larger pieces of garbage.
The Honiara City Council still struggles to keep Honiara clean but until citizens change their ways, act more responsibly and have a pride in the environment and their city I foresee no change to the situation the Island Sun article clearly illustrated today.
Yours sincerely
Frank Short
