Kwanza River descent by Olympians to raise awareness of plastic pollution

Olympians launch Kwanza River expedition against plastic pollution

In early 2018, the International Canoe Federation (ICF) partnered with Cleanseas.org, the IOC, and the UN Environment Programme to raise awareness about the catastrophic issue of single-use plastic in global waterways.

The Kwanza River challenge

To highlight this initiative, the ICF announced that two-time Olympian Mike Dawson (NZL) will lead an international team on the first full descent of Angola's Kwanza River Gorge, near Dondo. This expedition aims to spotlight plastic waste.

Dawson will be joined by Brazilian Olympian Pedro Goncalves, South African Dewet Michau, and Jake Holland (UK).

The team will train on Zambia's Zambezi River before traveling 2500km across West Africa to Angola. They will document their journey to raise awareness of the environmental disaster affecting the planet.

A global crisis and call to action

Mike Dawson stated, "There's an epidemic of single-use plastic worldwide... The problem's magnitude is clear in countries without robust recycling." Annually, approximately 300 million tonnes of plastic waste enter the ocean.

The ICF is committed to making canoe sports environmentally sustainable, exploring initiatives to drive global change. They hope their leadership encourages other International Federations to join the movement.

Dawson reflected, "My paddling expeditions have shown me beautiful rivers, but also firsthand how we pollute our environment. We need change. Discovering pollution in a pristine waterway is heartbreaking."

[go to the magazine: paddleworldwide]

Continue with the original post:
https://paddleworldwide.com/news/olympians-aim-conquer-kwanza-river-raise-awareness-pollution