German environment minister interacts with Pattinapakkam fishers
Earlier on the day, the German minister held a closed door meeting with some of the NGOs in the city that are working in the field of environment.
German environment minister interacts with Pattinapakkam fishers (Credits: Hemanathan M)
CHENNAI: German Federal Minister for Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection Steffi Lemke visited Pattinapakkam beach in Chennai, on Wednesday, and interacted with members of the fishing community.
She visited the beach as the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ) is implementing a Circular Economy Solutions (CES) project along with the fishing community and women's self help groups to prevent marine litter.
The German is in the city to take part in the G20 meeting to be held on Friday.
According to the German Consulate in Chennai, fishers and women's self-help groups collect old fishing nets and sell them to selected recycling companies. This creates economic opportunities for local people and prevents plastic pollution. In order to prevent plastic ending up in the ocean in the first place, the project also implements approaches involving circular economy solutions.
The aim of the interventions is to sensitize the fishing community to collect discarded fishing nets and deposit them with the women's self-help groups so that they can resell the fishing nets to selected recyclers.
Earlier on the day, the German minister held a closed door meeting with some of the NGOs in the city that are working in the field of environment.
On Thursday, she will visit Koyambedu bus stand and take a walk in T Nagar Pedestrian Plaza. She will hold a discussion with Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP), which is implementing an International Climate Initiative (IKI) project on sustainable urban planning and mobility in Chennai, apart from launch a forest protection project with the Ministry of Environment and Forests to implement the forest cooperation signed by India and Germany in May 2022. She will also visit Pallikaranai urban wetland.
