Highlighting regional cooperation to address marine litter in a regional training

Writer: Ning Liu,  Editor: Anna Manikowska D.G., Reviewer: Yegor Volovik, Nancy Groves As a part of a capacity-building programme, representatives from government authorities, research institutions and non-governmental organizations from Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Malaysia, Peru, the Philippines, the Russian Federation, Timor-Leste, Singapore, and the Republic of Korea participated in a training workshop on marine debris in Busan, Korea, in October 2019. This workshop was organized by the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation's Marine Environmental Training and Education Center of the Korea Institute of Ocean Science and Technology, Our Sea of East Asia Network and the Korea Marine Environment Management Corporation with support from the Ministry of Ocean and Fisheries of Korea and the Partnerships in Environmental Management for the Seas of East Asia. The workshop participants were trained in various methods of monitoring and assessment of marine debris, and also took part in fieldwork within a marine debris shoreline survey. The training programme included several other aspects, e.g., recycling of aquaculture Styrofoam buoys, marine debris collection technology, marine microplastic pollution, transport of marine debris in the oceans, hazardous chemicals associated with marine debris. The workshop presented a unique opportunity for the participants to share their experience of addressing these issues in their countries. As marine litter is one of the key focus areas of the Northwest Pacific Action Plan, the key achievements and lessons learned in the past decade in the fight against marine litter were presented during this workshop. It was emphasized that regional cooperation, sharing of knowledge, experience, and best practices, as well as science-informed policy recommendations, are critically important to address marine litter at a regional or global scale.