Every April 22, Brunei Darussalam stands united with the global community to commemorate the celebration of Earth Day – a platform to promote support in protecting the environment, particularly to encourage every individual to play their part towards caring and preserving the environment.
In a statement, Minister of Development Dato Seri Setia Ir Awang Haji Suhaimi bin Haji Gafar touched on this year’s theme: ‘Invest in Our Planet’, a theme that focusses on investing in the well-being of our planet towards a green, prosperous and sustainable future. This theme coincides with the current situation where we have witnessed environmental damage, air and water pollution as well as the negative impacts from climate change driven by human activities, which have deeply impacted the global economy.
The minister also highlighted that it’s time for the government, the private sector, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and the citizens to divert together our focus and mobilise more of our energy into building healthy and sustainable futures for the future generation to be able to continue living safely in our planet. All collective actions must be geared to preserving and managing the environment by investing in our planet, encouraging all to practice eco-friendly habits. A change in consumer habits towards a greener lifestyle will eventually lead to a shift of demands in the market to support this new lifestyle.
For this year’s Earth Day celebration, Dato Seri Setia Ir Awang Haji Suhaimi shared that this year, the Ministry of Development through the Department of Environment, Parks and Recreation (JASTRe) is conducting its second-year social media ‘Eco Ramadhan bersama JASTRe’ campaign with the involvement of various agencies from the Government, private sector, NGOs and Micro, Small and Medium Entreprises (MSMEs) in playing their roles through a ‘Whole of Nation’ approach.
In collaboration with Zero Waste Brunei, this year’s campaign with the theme ‘Bring My Own Reusables’ focusses on investing in our Earth by promoting the use of reusables and encourages consumers to switch to sustainable and eco-friendly products. In addition to that, various activities have been organised such as the expansion of the No Plastic Bag Everyday Initiative campaign to Ramadhan food stalls with other government and private agencies and social media campaigns through ‘Reusables in Ramadhan’ and ‘Aim For Low Waste’ social media challenges, interactive quizzes and tips to start practicing eco-friendly habits.
Information on the campaign and updates of the activities will be made available at @jastre.bn and @zerowastebrunei Instagram accounts.
Concluding his statement in conjunction with Earth Day celebrations, the minister called on the public to remain committed and passionate in bearing the obligation to invest in inheriting the sustainable land of Brunei Darussalam to the future generation.
