A Youth Olympic Games free of plastic pollution. That's the commitment made by Dakar 2026 and the Senegalese Ministry of the Environment and Ecological Transition, with the support from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). Several principles will therefore be at the heart of the Youth Olympic Games: reducing single-use plastics; strengthen waste sorting and collection on sites ; raise awareness among athletes, spectators and communities; mobilize institutions, the private sector and civil society around a sustainable environmental legacy.
« With this initiative, Dakar 2026 will become a benchmark for sustainable sporting events and will contribute to Senegal's transition towards a circular economy for plastics "This is wonderful news," rejoices the COJOJ. We are not just launching an environmental project. We are launching an ambition: to make the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games a demonstration that a major international event can accelerate the transition to a circular, more responsible and more sustainable economy “,” commented Fatou Leigh, Acting Resident Representative of UNDP Senegal.
« The Youth Olympic Games represent an exceptional opportunity for us, adds Aliou Gory Diouf, the Minister of the Environment and Ecological Transition. We want to demonstrate that Senegal is capable of hosting the first Olympic event in the history of the African continent, while leaving an environmental legacy as significant as the sporting one. Our ambition goes beyond the Games themselves. We want the responsible behaviors adopted during this event to become a way of life. »
