Towards an integrated management of plastics and the preservation of biodiversity in Cape Verde (Ilhas Sem Plástico)

Cape Verde, an isolated archipelago with significant economic and social challenges, is facing increasing plastic pollution. Pollution threatens local biodiversity and the health of the population. Waste management remains a major challenge to preserve the environment and support sustainable development. The archipelago, consisting of ten main islands, is particularly exposed to marine plastic waste transported by ocean currents. Every year, thousands of tons of plastics run up on its beaches, severely affecting marine ecosystems. Local and international initiatives are emerging to raise awareness, clean up and structure a sustainable response. The project led by the NGO Biosfera, on the islands of Santa Luzia and São Vicente, is part of this dynamic. It joins the 2023-2026 strategy of the FFEM around circular solutions and the fight against pollution.

• Reduce plastic pollution at source in São Vicente by raising awareness among national actors and the local population and promoting the reduction of plastic use, reuse, alternatives, and finally the collection and sorting of plastic waste
• Restore the nesting sites of marine turtles in Santa Luzia and monitor the impact of plastic on biodiversity.
• Accompany the development of a Cape Verdean national strategy for plastic management.
• Replicate successful actions on other islands and inspire similar initiatives in island contexts.

• Concretely reduce plastic pollution and preserve sensitive marine ecosystems, particularly turtle nesting areas.
• Change behaviors sustainably, through education and awareness actions and the mobilization of local economic actors.
• Create a reproducible model, adaptable to other islands of Cape Verde and other island territories facing the same challenges.
• Unite local, public, private and associative actors around a common strategy for a future without plastic.

This project tackles plastic pollution in Santa Luzia and São Vicente by acting on the entire plastic value chain. It proposes a global approach: prevention, reduction at source, transformation of uses and local capacity building. Co-built with the actors of the territory, it creates a sustainable collective dynamic. The objective: to develop a sustainable local model for reducing plastic pollution, replicable in other island territories.