G20 Action Plan on Marine Litter

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G20 Action Plan on Marine Litter

• The new framework is aimed at facilitating further concrete action on marine waste, though on a voluntary basis, after the G20 Hamburg Summit in Germany adopted the G20 Action Plan on Marine Litter in 2017.
• Under the new framework, G20 members will promote a comprehensive life-cycle approach to prevent and reduce plastic litter discharge to the oceans through various measures and international cooperation.
• The members will also share best practices, promote innovation and boost scientific monitoring and analytical methodologies.
• Japan may host the first meeting under the new framework at the time when officials of environment ministers in the G20 countries will meet for the G20 Resource Efficiency Dialogue.

G20 Operational Framework

Issues to be addressed

• The G20 maintains that the tools to reduce marine litter have to be as diverse as the challenge of marine litter itself. There is no ‘one size fits all’ solution. We reiterate the need to:
  • address pollution from land based sources,
  • address pollution from sea based sources, including key waste items from the fishing and aquaculture industry as well as from the shipping sector,
  • address financial resources for cost-effectiveness analyses as well as measures for marine litter prevention or reduction,
  • put in place effective actions e.g. to facilitate the implementation of the polluter pays approach, e.g. ‘extended producer responsibility’ or deposit schemes – already in place in some G20 countries as appropriate and develop new sources of funding for effective waste management systems, as well as stimulate innovation;
  • address education and outreach, and
  • address additional research requirements.
• Given that in many regions the largest amount of marine litter entering the oceans worldwide stems from land-based sources, waste reduction and waste management, as well as waste water management, including stormwater, deserve priority actions.
• The G20 emphasizes its need to work on land- and sea-based sources of marine litter and commits to focusing on the following priority areas in accordance with national circumstances.

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