Swiss help cleanse Rio’s polluted waterways

Rio de Janeiro's Guanabara Bay, the site for the 2016 Olympic sailing competitions, has been criticised by athletes, journalists and sports officials for its polluted waters. The problem will not be solved when the Games open on August 5 but several initiatives, including Swiss support, have been contributing towards the environmental clean-up. Switzerland has been carrying out a series of campaigns in Brazil looking at the need to preserve water. Rio’s Guanabara Bay has been the focus of a special campaign, ‘An ocean without trash, a peoples’ ocean’, organised by Swissnex Brazil, a research and education collaboration office, and Swissando (Presence Switzerland). In October and November 2015, they held various scientific, educational and artistic events in Rio and Niterói to discuss the need to tackle the issue of trash accumulating in the oceans. Swiss officials plan to continue such awareness-raising activities well after the athletes return home from the Rio Games.