Bangkok Plastics Week: capacity building events on plastic monitoring and assessment

Bangkok Plastics Week is a series of capacity-building events that aim to share best practices, tools and approaches for data collection, analysis, and management of plastic pollution and marine litter to meet local and national needs, achieve regional priorities, and track progress against global goals. The events also provide a platform for networking, partnerships for collaboration, and peer learning.

More information, presentations and outcomes of the whole week are also available here. The key takeaways report is available here.

Bangkok Plastics Week schedule of events:   

• 9 October: Advancing Data Analysis and Data Comparability in the East Asian Seas, led by COBSEA. A capacity development event to apply recommended monitoring approaches and to interpret and manage data for better policies, actions, and tracking effectiveness.   
• 10 October: Strategies for Plastic Waste Data Collection and Management: Foundations for National and City Action Plans co-led by ADB and COBSEA. A capacity development event to learn best practices, tools, and approaches for monitoring plastic pollution and marine litter for country-specific evidence-based actions tailored to specific country contexts.   
• 11 October: Working Group 3, Localizing a Global Mandate: The Role of Regional Bodies and Stakeholders, on day 1 of the Global Plastics Summit. A working group session, facilitated by COBSEA, ADB, and partners on the role of regional bodies and stakeholders in implementing the global plastics treaty at a local level. The Summit itself is organized by the Economist Impact. Workshop participants will also get a complimentary pass to the two-day Global Plastics Summit.
• 12 October: Group Attendance, Day 2 of the Global Plastics Summit. ADB and COBSEA will facilitate group participation for Bangkok Plastics Week delegates to attend the Global Plastics Summit, organized by the Economist Impact.

Regional workshop on marine litter monitoring: Advancing Data Analysis and Data Comparability in the East Asian Seas (9 Oct)

Monitoring and assessment are indispensable in identifying marine litter status, trends, and its most critical impacts, and to support development, tracking and evaluation of policies and management interventions. The aim is to improve evidence for effective decision making at national level and greater data comparability at regional level to address the transboundary issue of marine litter. Training on marine litter monitoring methods has been provided at regional and national levels, and national focal agencies and technical partners identified additional capacity building needs on data analysis and strengthening data comparability to track effectiveness of interventions over time.

This workshop is organized by COBSEA and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), in partnership with the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), with support from the SEA circular and MA‑RE‑DESIGN projects.

The workshop will build capacity of COBSEA country participants to apply recommended monitoring approaches and to interpret and manage data to inform policies and interventions and track effectiveness. The summary report for the workshop on 9 October is available here.

Regional Workshop on Strategies for Plastic Waste Data Collection and Management: Foundations for National and City Action Plans (10 Oct)

While national monitoring efforts and programmes exist in countries in South-East Asia, data collection efforts are often fragmented and conducted on an ad hoc basis linked to one-off initiatives or development cooperation projects. It is currently almost impossible to compare plastic pollution project data within or across countries. 

Recognizing these challenges, the Asian Development Bank, in collaboration with COBSEA, is hosting a regional capacity-building workshop as part of the knowledge program of ADB’s Technical Assistance: Promoting Action on Plastic Pollution from Source to Sea in Asia and the Pacific.

Through a series of expert led presentations, case studies and group discussions the workshop aims to:

1. Provide an overview by experts of the tools and approaches available for monitoring and assessment of plastic pollution and marine litter for evidence-based action for countries to apply to their specific contexts.
2. Share examples by experts of how methods, tools and approaches have been applied in specific country contexts for participants to learn about best practices and challenges.
3. Share the perspectives of stakeholders at different levels, from governments to communities, to understand successes and capacity needs for data management, monitoring and evaluation of initiatives, and evidence-based policy making, as well as understand how development partners can support countries further.

Global Plastics Summit - Working group 3: Localising a global mandate: the role of regional bodies and stakeholders (11 Oct)

For a global treaty to work effectively at the national level, regional organizations and stakeholders can play an important supporting role in developing and implementing the provisions of the treaty, in particular helping countries translate a wide global mandate into specific, local contexts, including viable national plastic action. This working group will, on the one hand, explore how regional organizations such as Regional Seas and stakeholders such as multilateral development banks can support countries in building capacity, harmonizing monitoring and assessment, and developing plans and policies in line with the treaty, and, on the other, assist countries wishing to leverage regional organizations and stakeholders to help them implement the treaty. The aim is to foster a better understanding of the role that regional bodies and stakeholders can play, and identify effective implementation measures, as well as promote cooperation between regional bodies and countries.

This working group will provide a space for dialogue and exchange on the role of regional bodies and how existing mechanisms can be used to develop, implement, and track and an international legally binding instrument. The working group is faciltated by COBSEA and partners.

Visit the Global Plastics Summit website for more details.