Ecobreves – PERU: Tourists Spoil Nature

By IPS Correspondents and - - Reprint | | Print |

LIMA, May 5 2002 (IPS) - Environmental activists and volunteers collected more than 17,000 plastic bottles left by tourists during the last Southern Hemisphere summer at Peru's Paracas Nature Reserve, a 335,000-hectare sanctuary on the Pacific coast. The non-governmental organization Ecoplayas launched a program to educate visitors about the dangers that plastic waste poses for the mammals inhabiting the reserve, which is located in the southwestern department of Ica, 285 km from Lima.

The information tourists receive lists precedents in other areas of the world, such as the Midway Islands, where 90 percent of the albatross and 70 percent of other bird species tested were found to have ingested plastic material.