On 23rd February 2017 during the Economist Oceans Summit in Bali, the UN Environment launched a global #CleanSeas campaign to eliminate major sources of marine litter: microplastics in cosmetics and the excessive, wasteful usage of single-use plastic by the year 2022. UN Environment calls for robust enforcement of legislation and relevant policies as well as for the enhanced efforts from private, civil society and public at large to combat marine litter problem.
Erik Solheim, Head of UN Environment, said, "It is past time that we tackle the plastic problem that blights our oceans. Plastic pollution is surfing onto Indonesian beaches, settling onto the ocean floor at the North Pole, and rising through the food chain onto our dinner tables. We’ve stood by too long as the problem has gotten worse. It must stop."
More than 8 million tonnes of plastics get into the oceans annually, equal to dumping a garbage truck of plastic every minute. At least US$8 billion in damage each year is caused by marine debris to marine ecosystems. More than 600 species of marine animals are impacted by ingesting or becoming entangled in plastics floating in the ocean.
The UN campaign will be implemented in three phases: building an awareness, engage public from 2017 to 2018, scaling up and replicating action around the world from 2018 to 2020, especially working with industries to reduce the use of single-use plastics and microbeads, and working towards to a closed loop economy - one in which plastics never become waste, but re-enter the economy as technical or biological capital from 2021 to 2022.
NOWPAP was among the first Regional Seas programmes that initiated marine litter activities in 2005. A NOWPAP marine litter database was established in 2006. NOWPAP Regional Action Plan on Marine Litter was adopted in 2007 provides strategic directions for NOWPAP member states to improve the quality of the marine and coastal environment of the Northwest Pacific region by addressing the marine litter problems through cooperation and partnerships. Northwest Pacific Regional Node was the first regional node of the Global Partnership on Marine Litter established with support by Global Programme of Action for the Protection of the Marine Environment from Land-based Activities (GPA) by the Northwest Pacific Environmental Cooperation Center (NPEC) and Regional Coordinating Unit of the Northwest Pacific Action Plan (NOWPAP).
NOWPAP has organized a series of international marine litter workshops and ocean cleanup campaigns since 2005, published a number of reports on monitoring and assessing on marine litter in the region.
Throughout the year, the #CleanSeas campaign will be announcing ambitious measures by countries and businesses to eliminate microplastics from personal care products, ban or tax single-use bags, and dramatically reduce other disposable plastic items.
People around the world are taking action to turn the tide on plastic in our oceans.
Join NOWPAP and the global movement to end plastics pollution in the ocean. Act Now!
About #CleanSeas: The #CleanSeas campaign is a global movement targeting governments, industry and consumers to urgently reduce the production and excessive use of plastic that is polluting the earth’s oceans, damaging marine life and threatening human health. UN Environment aims to transform all spheres of change - habits, practices, standards and policies around the globe to dramatically reduce marine litter and the harm it causes. Ten countries have already joined the campaign. They are: Belgium, Costa Rica, France, Grenada, Indonesia, Norway, Panama, Saint Lucia, Sierra Leone and Uruguay.
