Samoa National Youth Council and other youth group networks collected 1,330 plastic bottles and wrappers at the Moataa Mangrove site clean-up on Saturday 22 March 2025.

This follows the collection of 1,013 plastics in February and is a continuation of the Climate Change Action that was launched before #CHOGM2024.

This partnership was formed between SNYC and Moataa Village through its village council and other support partners like the Disaster Management Office of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment and SRWMA.

The climate action saw SNYC making a commitment to bringing together youth and youth groups to collectively clean up the mangrove site at Moataa leading up to CHOGM2024 and more importantly to sustain this effort even after CHOGM.

This was the vision of the Council to maintain the momentum passed CHOGM instead of only doing this as a reactive initiative to what was happening. This was very well received by the Village Council of Moataa.

The Climate action will take place every fourth Saturday starting January 2025 for six months whereby continuous clean-up will be done at the Moataa Mangrove site. The initiative comes from the genuine hearts, commitment and vision of the youth through the SNYC, knowing that mangrove sites play a crucial role in combating climate change.

The SNYC said that despite hiccups and challenges mainly due to the weather, the project resumed in February.

SNYC President Leiataulesa Kevin Lucky and it was a pleasant feeling to have this continued on Saturday with more young people, especially youth groups and other youth from Moataa village.

“I thank you all on behalf of the SNYC for being here to not only conduct this climate action but more so sustain and prove youth commitment and contribution to this crucial commitment and cause” said Leiatauleasa.

He also highlighted the genuine impact of real youth-led and youth-driven initiatives which are uninfluenced by other parties that usually impose tokenism in the youth space.

Moataa village mayor Afioga Leuluaialii thanked the SNYC for this climate action on behalf of the village council and the women’s committee members.

“We are proud to see young people at the forefront of these programs and we look forward to continuing this partnership,” said Leulualii.

The SNYC made a special mention of the Moataa village council, the village mayor and the women’s committee for their positive reception of the program and also mobilising Moataa youth to participate.

Other Youth Organisations and networks that participated like the Sosaiete Faiaoga Samoa Youth, Emerging Artists Association, and SRWMA Youth Groups and other individual youth that joined simply because they believed in the long term goal of this project were also commended.