Constitution of a Platform on Marine Litter for the implementation of the Regional Plan

One of the tasks of the Platform on ML will be provide advice on further development of policy related issues, and to support the coordinated and coherent implementation of priority measures, including prevention, favoring the integration and cooperation among the various sectoral branches of the national administration and different stakeholders.

As a pioneering legal instrument, the Regional Plan on Marine Litter approved by the contracting parties of the Barcelona Convention contains a package of concrete legally binding programmes of measures and implementation timetables to prevent and reduce the adverse effects of marine litter on the marine and coastal environment in the Mediterranean. These include innovative and traditional measures of a policy, regulatory (including incentive economic instruments) and technical nature, addressing different aspects of marine litter prevention and management from land and sea based sources. The Regional Plan's measures impose clear obligations regarding the waste management hierarchy, closure of illegal dumping/dumpsites, shift to sustainable consumption and production patterns, removal of existing marine litter using environmental sound practices such as fishing for litter, clean up campaigns, port reception facilities at possibly no special fees, and monitoring, assessment and reporting on implementation of measures as well as enforcement of national legislation. The majority of the  measures of the Plan should be implemented by the Contracting Parties by 2020.

The following regional actors from different branches of administration, industry, cooperation, fisheries, etc, expressed their interest to participate in the initiave:

-  UNEP/MAP-Barcelona Convention Secretariat (including MEDPOL) supported by the relevant RACs (i.e. REMPEC, SCP/RAC, SPA/RAC) and in consultation with UNEP/GPA

-  GFCM

-  ACCOBAMS

-  CIESM

-  EUROPEAN ENVIRONMENT AGENCY (EEA) 

-  INSTITUTE OF WATER OF THE REPUBLIC OF SLOVENIA (IWRS)

-   IUCN/ IUCN-MED

-   SWEEP-NET

-   GRID-ARENDAL

-   SDSN-MED

-   HELMEPA

-   MEDASSET

-   MIO-ECSDE

-   WASTE FREE OCEANS

-   PRINCE ALBERT II MONACO FOUNDATION

-   EU MSFD TGML

-   MEDITS

-    PLASTICS EUROPE 

-   Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ)

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