Plastic waste no longer has limits. They occupy all spaces through anthropogenic effects. The researcher, agronomist specializing in natural resource management and member of the Applied Ecology Laboratory of the Faculty of Agronomic Sciences of the University of Abomey-Calavi, measured its scope in Pahou. During an investigation focused on an environmental walk, Hubert Olivier Dossou-Yovo made the bitter observation. A fact which led him to make suggestions to correct the situation.
Non-biodegradable plastic packaging here, used and used bags litter the classified forest of Pahou. Hubert Olivier Dossou-Yovo was able to see it firsthand. As fate would have it, the protected areas specialist and champion of conservation and environmental protection came to grips with the reality of the facts. Plastic pollution orchestrated by local residents. “Seeing such things touches the sensitivity of many nature enthusiasts. People do not realize the harm they are doing to themselves by disregarding nature and their environment,” he laments..
The researcher's proposals
Already looking for concrete strategies to promote this forest reserve for tourism purposes, the researcher had, in his work on the tourist potential of the district of Pahou, drawn up some possible solutions. After his latest findings, Hubert Olivier Dossou-Yovo returns with new proposals to combat plastic pollution. Among these :
1. The organization of health weeks with the involvement of local residents to rid the forest of non-biodegradable plastic objects ;
2. The creation of information panels relating to non-pollution of the forest is necessary. These signs will be made of wood and painted green with writing in white or yellow to raise awareness and inform any forest user. ;
3. Place ecological trash cans in the forest and especially along ecotourism circuits to prevent local residents from throwing waste anywhere and anyhow. Which bins should be emptied of their contents regularly.
4. Cooperation between water and forest services and local residents involved in community forest management is essential.
5. A call for goodwill passionate about environmental issues and NGOs specializing in the field for sanitation actions focused on the collection of plastic objects, s’impose.
The classified forest of Pahou extended over an initial area of 765 hectares. Its classification document in the Republic dates from 18 Avril 1940 should it be reported.
Damien TOLOMISSI