- Overall status: Completed
- Published: 3 March 2020
At the 24th Intergovernmental Meeting of COBSEA (IGM 24) in June 2019, COBSEA participating countries (Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, the People’s Republic of China, the Philippines, the Republic of Korea, Singapore, Thailand and Viet Nam) adopted a revised Regional Action Plan on Marine Litter (RAP MALI). The RAP MALI aims to consolidate, coordinate, and facilitate cooperation, and implement the necessary environmental policies, strategies and measures for sustainable, integrated management of marine litter in the East Asian Seas. It guides national and regional action to (1) prevent and reduce marine litter from land-based sources, (2) and sea-based sources, (3) establish regionally coherent monitoring and assessment programmes, and (4) create enabling conditions and build capacity for cross-sector cooperation. IGM 24 formally established a COBSEA Working Group on Marine Litter to promote the implementation of the RAP MALI, provide strategic and technical support, and facilitate information exchange and regional cooperation.
In 2018, COBSEA and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) launched the SEA circular project ('Reducing marine litter by addressing the management of the plastic value chain in South-East Asia') with support from the Government of Sweden. SEA circular will implement activities from 2018-2022 in Thailand, Malaysia, Cambodia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Viet Nam, sharing knowledge across COBSEA countries. SEA circular works in partnership with governments, businesses, civil society, academia, and international partners to reduce and prevent land-based sources of plastic pollution at source. The initiative promotes market-based solutions and enabling policies to transform plastic value-chain management, strengthens the science base for informed decision making, engages consumers and disadvantaged groups through targeted outreach, and leverages COBSEA’s regional mechanisms to strengthen national marine litter planning and regionally harmonized monitoring approaches. An annual SEA of Solutions partnership event on marine litter catalyses knowledge sharing and promotes inclusive solutions to plastic pollution.
www.cobsea.org / www.sea-circular.org
The policy space of marine litter is becoming increasingly busy, requiring concerted efforts to coordinate approaches and ensure complementarity to ensure progress toward meeting SDG 14.1 and associated Goals. COBSEA has stepped up its coordination efforts through the Working Group on Marine Litter and the SEA circular project. COBSEA continues to coordinate efforts toward harmonized marine litter monitoring and effective planning in South-East and East Asia to reduce reporting burdens for participating countries and leverage synergies with other regional frameworks (such as the ASEAN Framework of Action on Marine Debris and the APEC Roadmap on Marine Debris) in line with the RAP MALI and United Nations Environment Assembly resolutions.
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Who are the beneficaries?
COBSEA participating countries, including national focal institutions, local and national government partners; plastic producers, retailers and brands (with a focus on the food and beverage industry); consumers in COBSEA countries; partners from civil society and academia in the region; disadvantaged groups vulnerable to the impacts of plastic pollution, such as informal waste workers and coastal (fishing) communities.
What specific actions have been taken to positively impact beneficaries?
Adoption of the Regional Action Plan on Marine Litter (RAP MALI) and establishment of the COBSEA Working Group on Marine Litter to guide coherent action in the region; Identification and development of market-based solutions towards ‘less plastic wasted’; Strengthening the scientific basis for informed decision-making, including technical assistance to improve monitoring programmes and conduct plastic leakage and accumulation hotspot assessments; Creating widespread outreach on marine litter and plastic pollution to raise awareness of marine litter and of solutions for better plastic value chain management; Regional networking to establish the necessary mechanisms for technical advice and exchange, facilitating dialogue and networking and provide targeted capacity building and technical support. This includes ensuring coordination at the regional level and hosting the annual SEA of Solutions partnership week on marine litter.