Training of Trainers on Monitoring and Assessment of Marine Plastic Litter and Microplastics

The Training of Trainers on Monitoring and Assessment of Marine Plastic Litter and Microplastics held on 9-13 September 2019 in Bali, Indonesia, was organized by the Coordinating Body on the Seas of East Asia (COBSEA), the Global Partnership on Marine Litter (GPML) and the Global Programme of Action for the Protection of the Marine Environment from Land-based Activities (GPA), co-hosted by the Ministry of Environment and Forestry of Indonesia and the Regional Capacity Center on Clean Seas (RC3S) and implemented in partnership with Universitas Udayana (Udayana University) and Open Universiteit (Open University of the Netherlands).

The Training was based on the Guidelines for the Monitoring and Assessment of Plastic Litter in the Ocean developed by the Joint Group of Experts on the Scientific Aspects of Marine Environmental Protection (GESAMP). Participants were provided with the Guidelines and a course manual with additional materials to support training sessions and exercises.

The training aimed to build the foundation for course participants to develop monitoring and assessment programmes for plastic marine litter. The overall learning objective was to enable participants to:

1. Establish/design a programme to monitor and assess the distribution and abundance of plastic litter;
2. Differentiate between different types of monitoring;
3. Apply several methods to monitor and assess the distribution and abundance of plastic litter;
4. Perform site selection appropriate for their own geographic context;
5. Report on the distribution and abundance of plastic litter;
6. Use data to inform and guide policy.

The training included both classroom sessions and a series of field visits to conduct marine litter sampling and laboratory analysis. The training provided an opportunity for participating countries of COBSEA to present ongoing marine litter planning and monitoring activities, share good practices, challenges and questions, and identify potential follow-up capacity development activities supported by COBSEA and the GPML.