During the second week of August, NOWPAP had the opportunity to brief the leaders of tomorrow in the Republic of Korea about its work to protect the Northwest Pacific coastal and marine environment for future generations.
On 9 August 2017, NOWPAP Regional Coordinating Unit (RCU) was invited by the UNEP National Committee for the Republic of Korea to the Korea Maritime and Ocean University in Busan to give a lecture on marine litter to some 100 students from 7 universities across Korea. Dr. LIU Ning and Ms. Jihee Yi introduced the scale and negative impacts of marine litter, and NOWPAP’s activities to address marine litter. They encouraged the students to participate in the world’s first student competition, the Marine Plastics Innovation Challenge, which was organized by UN Environment and Think Beyond Plastic, to find the next generation of solutions to the global problem of marine litter.
The students inquired how NOWPAP member states cooperated with each on environmental protection, and how to improve solid waste management.
On 10 August 2017, NOWPAP staff joined the students to clean Songdo beach in Busan. The students weighted the garbage they collected and recorded their categories. They have also set up exhibition booths to educate the tourists on marine litter.
On 11 August, at the invitation of the Republic of Korea’s Oceans and Fisheries Human Resources Development Institute, Dr. LIU and Ms. YI from NOWPAP RCU briefed headmasters of 23 schools in the country about the work of NOWPAP over the past two decades. The school heads invited NOWPAP to their schools to explain NOWPAP work to their students.
