February 21, 2025 (Entebbe, Uganda): The Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), in partnership with the Government of Uganda, today wrapped up a Technical Validation Workshop of the Draft IGAD Regional Synthesis Report and the Draft IGAD Plastic Pollution Prevention Strategy and Implementation Plan in Entebbe, Uganda.
The meeting was attended by Blue Economy National Focal Persons, expert in plastic pollution regulations in the Ministries in charge of Environment and experts from the Ministries in charge of Water from IGAD Member States. The purpose of the three-days’ workshop was to validate the draft regional report as well as the draft regional plastic pollution strategy and implementation plan. This was by involving the right stakeholders from Member States and IGAD Blue Economy Project Implementation Unit.
This meeting was officially opened by Mr. Albert Orijabo, the Assistant Commissioner for Water Resources Planning and Regulation Department. In his opening remarks, Mr. Orijabo noted that Uganda recognizes the role and contribution of the plastic industry to her economy, in terms of employment opportunities, sustaining livelihoods for especially her youthful population and the significant contribution to its tax base. He also highlighted that the impacts of plastic pollution are also transboundary, therefore necessitating the need to use regional collaborative platforms, initiatives and frameworks to address them. He emphasized the need to appreciate that the plastic problem not only transcends our national boundaries but also calls for a stakeholder driven, concerted, multi-pronged, and innovative approaches requiring trade-offs between the pillars of sustainable development, mainly social, economic and environmental concerns.
Dr. Eshete Dejen welcomed all participants to the validation workshop. In his welcome remarks, he reiterated that plastic pollution is a transboundary problem that is affecting both terrestrial and aquatic biodiversity. This fact, he said, has made the IGAD Blue Economy program to initiate the development of a regional plastic pollution prevention strategy and implementation plan that will guide member states in prevention of plastic pollution in a harmonized manner. He reminded the participants that their participation was very critical because their technical input is crucial in refining the report and the draft regional strategy produced by our consultants. He also informed the participants that we will present the regional plastic pollution strategy to the Ministers for validation and endorsement. This will pave way for the domestication of the regional plastic strategy into national plastic strategies.
The key outputs from the meeting include a technically validated IGAD regional Plastic Pollution Prevention Strategy and its implementation plan, a reviewed IGAD regional synthesis report on plastic pollution in the IGAD region and validated national reports on the situations of plastic pollution in the IGAD Member States (Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan and Uganda).
Background
IGAD Regional Blue Economy Strategy was endorsed by the IGAD Member States’ Ministers responsible for coordinating Blue Economy on April 1, 2022 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The IGAD Blue Economy Strategy and Implementation Plan intend to structure implementation of the Blue Economy at both national and regional levels, while fostering cooperation and regional integration not only, but also strengthening support to the member states to effectively translate policies into concrete actions. It will also contribute to the effective implementation of the Africa Blue Economy Strategy.
