On 20 September, as a follow up to this year’s World Cleanup Day and in conjunction with this week’s UN General Assembly, Let’s Do It World introduced World Cleanup Day to a distinguished panel and guests as a tool to accelerate the achievement of UN Sustainable Development Goals.
With the support of the Permanent Mission of Estonia to the UN and UN-Habitat, the event took place at Estonian House and consolidated LDIW’s position as an accelerator for positive SDG impact.
H.E. Alar Karis, President of the Republic of Estonia, officially opened proceedings, stating, “Mismanagement of waste on a global scale creates a crisis that threatens millions, kills wildlife, and intensifies the climate crisis. Let’s Do It World has initiated a global movement that focuses on the UN SDGs of making cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable, as well as adopting responsible consumption and production practices. World Cleanup Day serves as a platform for advocacy and policies related to waste management and environmental education, encouraging governments to prioritize waste management strategies and sustainable practices. Our aim at this season of the UN General Assembly is to adopt the resolution that proclaims World Cleanup Day into the UN Calendar. We invite all UN member states to join as co-sponsors. My hope is that this event inspires all to take further action, share best practices and promote a cleaner and more liveable planet.”
The event continued with a moderated discussion of critical sustainability issues. The esteemed panel comprised Maimunah Sharif (Executive Director of UN-Habitat), Jyoti Mathur-Filipp (Executive Secretary of the INC), Marina Ponti (Director of UN SDG Action Campaign), Lanji Ouko-Awori (Global Affairs Director of the Women's Rights Agency), Berris Ekinci (Acting Director General for Energy & Environment at Türkiye’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Heidi Solba, LDIW President & Head of Network.
The overall themes emerging from the discussions revealed strong support for coordinated collaboration, mass engagement and synergetic cooperation. LDIW emphasizes it is an awareness-raising movement and the panel recognized that human behavior needs to change if we are to achieve lasting, systemic change. Marina Ponti, Director of UN SDG Action Campaign, summarized succinctly, “Everyone can be an agent for change, and change can only happen when hearts and minds are connected.”
Addressing the question of how cross-sector cooperation to achieve a waste-free world can be achieved, Maimunah Mohd Sharif, Executive Director of UN-Habitat, stressed the need not just for recycling and reusing, but also, “to integrate waste management into education. Production and consumption needs to be managed, so this includes educating manufacturers of materials that end up in our environment. We need global solutions, such as integrating technology into smarter cities.”
Heidi Solba concluded, “This side-event was really important, because we will continue further discussions with each of the institutions who took part in the panel. Whether it be the Zero Waste initiative in Türkiye, or the Clean Cities platform with UN-Habitat, deeper conversation and deeper collaborations will follow in the coming months. We will, of course, bring you updates on these in future newsletters as they happen.”
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