In Rio, a 4-year-old girl clears plastic waste from the ocean

Record ID: 1627646

  • Title: In Rio, a 4-year-old girl clears plastic waste from the ocean
  • Date: 20th July 2021
  • Summary: TIJUCA, BRAZIL (JULY 16, 2021) (REUTERS) PRESIDENT OF MUNICIPAL URBAN CLEANING COMPANY (COMLURB), DURING INTERVIEW (SOUNDBITE) (Portuguese) PRESIDENT OF MUNICIPAL URBAN CLEANING COMPANY (COMLURB), FLAVIO LOPES, SAYING: "The idea of having a person of her age, drawing the attention of the media, bringing awareness to the population, is a way to reach more people and more age groups. To widen the scope for our message, that we need help to take care of the planet and that our job of cleaning the city would be much easier if everyone contributed." STILL POSTER OF GOMES IN FRONT OF DRAWINGS OF BUILDINGS, READING (Portuguese), READING: "Green agent"
  • Embargoed: 3rd August 2021 16:11
  • Keywords: Nina Gomes Rio de Janeiro beaches environment environmentalist trash
  • Location: TIJUCA & RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL
  • City: TIJUCA & RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL
  • Country: Brazil
  • Topics: Environment,South America / Central America
  • Reuters ID: LVA005EMN99ON
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Nina Gomes is no average environmentalist. With bright pink goggles and just 4 years old, she picks trash with her father from the water along the beaches of Rio de Janeiro.
    With Nina in tow, Gomes sets out on a paddleboard into the picturesque but polluted waters of Rio's Guanabara Bay, where she grabs plastic bottles and bags and puts them in a mesh net.
    Asked why she collects waste from the sea, she says: "Because (otherwise) fish and turtles die."
    Eleven million tons of plastic are discarded into the ocean every year, according to the United Nations Environment Programme. Plastic debris can be deadly to seabirds and marine life, with hundreds and thousands of marine mammals dying each year by consuming or being trapped in plastic waste. (Graphic on plastic waste).
    Gomes, who made a film in 2017 about the underwater world of Guanabara Bay, was inspired by the birth of his daughter to start Instituto Mar Urbano, a Rio-based group dedicated to fighting marine disasters.
    Studies by Brazil's Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation found that there were upwards of 400 distinct species of birds, fish, reptiles and mammals that live within or in the periphery of Guanabara Bay. Thousands of Rio residents also rely on the bay to support their livelihoods through fishing. More than 10 million people live in the areas surrounding the bay.
    Gomes hopes that Nina's example will serve to inspire love and empathy and also help break public apathy that surrounds environmental protection in Brazil.
    (Production: Sebastian Rocandio, Nina Lopez, Liamar Ramos)
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2021. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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