THE MARINE LITTER ACTIVITY IN THE NOWPAP REGION

by Jeung-Sook Park

Scientific Affairs Officer, NOWPAP Regional Coordinating Unit Busan Office
408-1 Shirang-Ri, Gijang-Eup, Gijang-Gun, Busan 619-902, Republic of Korea,
Jeungsook.park@nowpap.org

MARINE LITTER PROBLEM

Any persistent, manufactured or processed solid material discarded, disposed of or abandoned in the marine and coastal environment can be defined as marine litter. A continuous input of large quantities of all kinds of man-made materials including plastics results in a gradual build-up and posing a growing threat to the marine and costal environment.

Marine Litter can be found near the source of input but could also be transported over long distances with ocean currents and winds. As a result, marine litter is found in all seas areas of the world - not only in densely populated regions but also in remote places far away form any obvious sources (e.g. on remote islands in the middle of oceans and in the polar regions).

Marine litter is an environmental, economic, health and aesthetic problem. It can cause death to wildlife and threaten marine and coastal biodiversity. Pieces of litter can transport invasive species between seas. Medical and sanitary waste constitutes a health hazard and can seriously injure people. The presence of marine litter cause damage that entails great economic costs and losses to people, property and livelihood, as well as poses risks to health and even lives. Marine litter also spoils, fouls and destroys the beauty of the sea and the coastal zone.

GLOBAL CONCERN ON MARINE LITTER

Recognizing the severity of marine litter problem, the UN organizations and other international programmes have dedicated themselves to prevent the marine and coastal environment from marine litter for over last 10 years. A wide range of marine litter-related activities has already been developed, mainly on the regional and national scale. There are also global conventions and agreements related to marine litter such as the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, the Agenda 21 and the Johnsonburg Plan of Implementation, the Convention on the Prevention of Marine Pollution by Dumping of Wastes and Other Matter (London Convention 1972) and the 1996 Protocol, the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution form Ships (MARPOL Convention 73/78), the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal, Convention on Migratory Species, Global Programme of Actions for the Protection of the Marine Environment from Land-based Activities, the FAO Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries, and the Convention on Biodiversity.

Despite efforts already made at the global, regional and national level, the marine litter problem is continuously getting worse. There are several reasons that the problem appears to increase worldwide. Deficiencies in the implementation and enforcement of existing international and regional environment related agreements, as well as national regulations and standards are contributing to the problem. Littering practices from the shipping and fisheries sectors, as well as lack of land-based infrastructure to receive litter, combined with a lack of awareness among main stakeholders and the general public, are other major reasons.

DISTRIBUTION OF MARINE LITTER

There are no recent and certain figures on the amounts of marine litter worldwide. Nor are there any such global figures on the annual inputs of marine litter to the marine and costal environment. In 1997, the US Academy of Science estimated the total input of marine litter into the oceans, worldwide, at approximately 6.4 millions tonnes per year. According to other calculations, some 8 million items of marine litter has been estimated to enter oceans and seas every day, about 5 million of which are thrown overboard or lost from ships. Furthermore, it has been estimated that over 13,000 pieces of plastic litter are floating on every square kilometer of ocean surface.

In the year 2004 International Coastal Cleanup, organized by the Ocean Conservancy, over 305,000 volunteers from 88 participating countries removed over 7.7 million pounds of marine litter from more than 11,000 miles of shoreline. More than 6,600 divers participated in underwater cleanups, gathering more than 155,000 pounds of debris from 382 miles of riverbed and seafloor. Over 60 percent of all marine litter found during the 2004 Cleanup originated form land-based shoreline and recreational activities such as picnics, festivals, sports and day at the beach.

MARINE LITTER ACTIVITY IN THE NOWPAP REGION

The geographical scope of the Northwest Pacific Action Plan (NOWPAP) is a semi-enclosed sea area surrounded by the People’s Republic of China, Japan, the Republic of Korea and the Russian Federation. These costal countries are the four member states of NOWPAP that was adopted in 1994 as a part of the UNEP Regional Seas Programme with the goal of the wise use, development and management of the marine and coastal environment.

Since marine litter became an issue of concern in the region, the NOWPAP member states have discussed and adopted Resolution 1B of the Ninth Intergovernmental Meeting (Busan, Republic of Korea, 2004), Recommendation 2 of the NOWPAP Intersessional Workshop (Seoul, Republic of Korea, 2005) and Resolution 4 of the Tenth Intergovernmental Meeting (Toyama, Japan, 2005) to initiate marine litter activity in the region. According to these resolutions and recommendation, a new project on Marine Litter Activity (MALITA) in the NOWPAP region was developed and is being implemented since November 2005.

The initial steps of the MALITA implementation are to collect and review existing data and information relevant to marine litter in each of the NOWPAP members. As a result, database on marine litter related data and information will be established. Another activity is to collect information on relevant legal instruments and programmes on marine litter in each of the NOWPAP members in order to identify gaps and needs in the coverage of marine litter between the member states. On the basis of these initial activities, the following activities will be implemented accordingly:

• Development of regional and national strategies on integrated management of marine litter;
• Development and implementation of long-tern regional and national monitoring programme;
• Development of sectoral guidelines for management of marine litter;
• Development and improvement of port reception facilities and services;
• Development of public education and awareness raising campaigns; and
• Development of Regional Action Plan on marine litter

The NOWPAP project will raise the awareness of the general public about marine litter as one of the key risk factors in the marine and coastal environment degradation in the region. This project will be implemented in close collaboration with the member states, existing four Regional Activity Centres and newly nominated marine litter national Focal Points, and will support the development of the integrated waste management policies and systems at the national and regional level. The NOWPAP Regional Action Plan on marine litter to be developed at the end of the project will contribute to prevent and reduce marine litter in the Northwest Pacific region in line with the global theme of the sustainable development.