Staff members of NOWPAP RCU in Toyama joined school kids, university students and local citizens in beach cleanup on 17 September 2014. This event was organized by the Northwest Pacific Region Environmental Cooperation Centre (NPEC) as part of their marine litter monitoring programme which has been implemented for several years by Japan, China, Korea and Russia. The marine litter collected on the beach was sorted and recorded. The most predominant litter was plastic (more than 80%), followed by polystyrene and then metal.
Implementation of NOWPAP contributes to the Global Programme of Action for the Protection of the Marine Environment from Land-based Activities (GPA) in the Northwest Pacific region.