The theme for the second day of celebrating the National Environment Week focused on Unlocking Waste to Energy. There were three parallel events of the day; two in the morning and one in the evening. The first program of the morning was a school awareness program which was coordinated and facilitated by the Water and Sanitation Coordination Division at Taumeasina Island Resort from 9am – 1pm. The keynote address was delivered by the Honorable Minister for Natural Resources and Environment, Afioga Toeolesulusulu Cedric Pose Salesa Schuster.
Colleges were invited to be part of this program to learn and understand the roles and responsibilities of the Water and Sanitation Sector and their ongoing projects including the roles of different stakeholders under the sector. Stakeholders such as Samoa Water Authority (SWA), Water Resource Division (WRD), Ministry of Health (MOH), Independent Water Schemes Association (IWSA), Planning Urban Management Agency (PUMA), Renewable Energy Division (RED), Waste Management and Pollution Control Division (WMPCD) and the Land Transport Authority (LTA) were invited to present on how their roles and responsibilities correlates with each other.
In addition, the Land Management Division with the Spatial Information Agency also conducted a consultation on regulations of soil and land resource developments including spatial planning at the EFKS Youth Hall at Sogi from 9am to 12pm. Communities, government stakeholders and civil society were invited to be part of the discussions.
At 4pm, the Renewable Energy Division hosted a Youth Competition at the TATTE Convention Center from 4pm-7pm. The competition consisted of two main components which were song and dance and action poem. It focused on gauging the interests of the youths in promoting awareness and encouraging dissemination of knowledge on waste initiatives, sanitation initiatives and renewable energy projects currently being implemented in Samoa.
Six different youths were invited to be part of this competition. The competing youths were Seven Day Adventist (SDA) from Magiagi, Catholic Youth from Letogo, Seven Days of Gods Love Youth from Toamua-Uta, Methodist Youth from Puipaa, CCCS Youth from Gagaifolevao Lefaga and Catholic Youth from Lufilufi.
To conclude day two of the National Environment Week, the overall winner for the Youth Competition was Letogo Catholic Youth, second place was Gagaeifolevao Lefaga EFKS Youth, third place was Lufilufi Catholic Youth, fourth place was Puipaa Methodist Youth, fifth place was Magiagi SDA Youth and sixth place was Seven Days of God’s Love from Toamua Uta.
The Ministry wishes to thank all of the development partners, regional organizations, Ministries and agencies, the private sector, NGOs and Civil Societies, and most importantly the community for their continuous support.
