Representing UNEP, the NOWPAP Coordinator made a presentation on 24 July 2015 at a roundtable discussion in the Swiss Embassy in Tokyo to mark the port call of the “Race for Water Odyssey” expedition. The NOWPAP Coordinator introduced UNEP efforts in dealing with marine litter starting from UNEP initiative on ML in 2003 (with regional and global ML assessments), the 5th International Marine Debris Conference in Honolulu in 2011 (with Honolulu Strategy and Honolulu Commitment adopted), and then GPML establishment at the Rio+20 Conference in 2012 (including online Marine Litter Network). UNEA resolution on plastic debris and subsequent study were also mentioned along with major UNEP publications already produced and expected to be available in 2015-2016. NOWPAP Regional Action Plan on Marine Litter (RAP MALI) was briefly introduced with a few examples. Marine litter-related publications produced by NOWPAP in recent years were distributed at the meeting.
