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United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs Sustainable Development

Pacific plastic pollution: A system for regional grassroots solutions

(
Non-governmental organization (NGO)
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#OceanAction41971
    Description
    Description
    From the very outset of The Ocean Conference, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres stressed the importance of information, stating, We cannot improve what we do not measure. A common thread throughout this conference and in many previous marine litter-focussed meetings is the critical need for strong data to inform and facilitate decision-making.

    Marine litter is an issue that is significantly lacking in high-quality information in the Pacific region. SPREPs Cleaner Pacific 2025 strategy notes, The extent of the marine litter problem in the Pacific has not been comprehensively documented. Marine litter is an issue that we can solve. To work towards a plastic-free Pacific, we need a detailed understanding of both the problem and the most effective solutions.

    In collaboration with New Zealand government departments and utilizing the UNEP / IOC Guidelines on Survey and Monitoring of Marine Litter, The Sustainable Coastlines Charitable Trust is committed to the design, development and rollout of a long-term program for the necessary collection of marine litter and analysis of data associated with it.

    Alongside this, we will deliver community-engaging and curriculum-aligned education and awareness activities aimed at changing behavior to stop litter at its source. By evaluating and comparing interventions, we will gain a strong understanding of the most effective litter-reducing solutions so that we can focus on and optimize those that work best.

    Critical to this strategy is the ongoing and deep-rooted involvement of youth and citizen scientists -- alongside scientists and technical advisers -- to ensure that we inform and engage communities across the Pacific in real, grassroots, scientifically rigorous actions.

    We will commit already-confirmed funding to pilot this program in Aotearoa New Zealand. To leverage the investment and spread the program further, we will adapt, refine and roll out locally specific versions in our branches in Papua New Guinea and Hawaii and -- after proving the concept we will work alongside SIDS around the Pacific to deliver impacts on an even larger scale.

    Working with leaders from within Pacific communities, the program will focus on enhancing human capacity through in-country and regional training programs. This work will ensure that inspired community members and leaders have open access to the best practice tools we will have developed for reporting on, removing and preventing litter. We will provide ongoing support and training, with a long-term aim of creating employment opportunities around the region for implementing this critical work.

    The data collated throughout the programs clean-up and awareness activities will be freely, openly and publicly available through a purpose-built database equipped with smart communication and visualization tools. Politicians and the public, students and scientists, writers and researchers alike, will all have digestible information on our plastic problem and the most effective solutions to address it, right at their fingertips.

    In other words; we commit to clearing coastlines around the Pacific of harmful litter, delivering increasingly effective interventions to prevent it, and doing so for as long as it takes to solve this challenge. We would love to partner with you to make this happen.
    Partners
    Sustainable Coastlines New Zealand, Sustainable Coastlines Papua New Guinea, Sustainable Coastlines Hawaii, Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP), Let's Do It World.
    Nature
    Reduction of single-use plastics

    Goal 12

    Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns

    Goal 12

    12.1

    Implement the 10-Year Framework of Programmes on Sustainable Consumption and Production Patterns, all countries taking action, with developed countries taking the lead, taking into account the development and capabilities of developing countries

    12.1.1

    Number of countries developing, adopting or implementing policy instruments aimed at supporting the shift to sustainable consumption and production

    12.2

    By 2030, achieve the sustainable management and efficient use of natural resources

    12.2.1

    Material footprint, material footprint per capita, and material footprint per GDP

    12.2.2

    Domestic material consumption, domestic material consumption per capita, and domestic material consumption per GDP

    12.3

    By 2030, halve per capita global food waste at the retail and consumer levels and reduce food losses along production and supply chains, including post-harvest losses

    12.3.1

    (a) Food loss index and (b) food waste index

    12.4

    By 2020, achieve the environmentally sound management of chemicals and all wastes throughout their life cycle, in accordance with agreed international frameworks, and significantly reduce their release to air, water and soil in order to minimize their adverse impacts on human health and the environment

    12.4.1
    Number of parties to international multilateral environmental agreements on hazardous waste, and other chemicals that meet their commitments and obligations in transmitting information as required by each relevant agreement
    12.4.2

    (a) Hazardous waste generated per capita; and (b) proportion of hazardous waste treated, by type of treatment

    12.5

    By 2030, substantially reduce waste generation through prevention, reduction, recycling and reuse

    12.5.1

    National recycling rate, tons of material recycled

    12.6

    Encourage companies, especially large and transnational companies, to adopt sustainable practices and to integrate sustainability information into their reporting cycle

    12.6.1
    Number of companies publishing sustainability reports

    12.7

    Promote public procurement practices that are sustainable, in accordance with national policies and priorities

    12.7.1

    Number of countries implementing sustainable public procurement policies and action plans

    12.8

    By 2030, ensure that people everywhere have the relevant information and awareness for sustainable development and lifestyles in harmony with nature

    12.8.1

    Extent to which (i) global citizenship education and (ii) education for sustainable development are mainstreamed in (a) national education policies; (b) curricula; (c) teacher education; and (d) student assessment

    12.a

    Support developing countries to strengthen their scientific and technological capacity to move towards more sustainable patterns of consumption and production

    12.a.1

    Installed renewable energy-generating capacity in developing countries (in watts per capita)

    12.b

    Develop and implement tools to monitor sustainable development impacts for sustainable tourism that creates jobs and promotes local culture and products

    12.b.1

    Implementation of standard accounting tools to monitor the economic and environmental aspects of tourism sustainability

    12.c

    Rationalize inefficient fossil-fuel subsidies that encourage wasteful consumption by removing market distortions, in accordance with national circumstances, including by restructuring taxation and phasing out those harmful subsidies, where they exist, to reflect their environmental impacts, taking fully into account the specific needs and conditions of developing countries and minimizing the possible adverse impacts on their development in a manner that protects the poor and the affected communities

    12.c.1

    Amount of fossil-fuel subsidies (production and consumption) per unit of GDP

    Goal 14

    Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development

    Goal 14

    14.1

    By 2025, prevent and significantly reduce marine pollution of all kinds, in particular from land-based activities, including marine debris and nutrient pollution

    14.1.1

    (a) Index of coastal eutrophication; and (b) plastic debris density

    14.2

    By 2020, sustainably manage and protect marine and coastal ecosystems to avoid significant adverse impacts, including by strengthening their resilience, and take action for their restoration in order to achieve healthy and productive oceans

    14.2.1

    Number of countries using ecosystem-based approaches to managing marine areas

    14.3

    Minimize and address the impacts of ocean acidification, including through enhanced scientific cooperation at all levels

    14.3.1
    Average marine acidity (pH) measured at agreed suite of representative sampling stations

    14.4

    By 2020, effectively regulate harvesting and end overfishing, illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing and destructive fishing practices and implement science-based management plans, in order to restore fish stocks in the shortest time feasible, at least to levels that can produce maximum sustainable yield as determined by their biological characteristics

    14.4.1
    Proportion of fish stocks within biologically sustainable levels

    14.5

    By 2020, conserve at least 10 per cent of coastal and marine areas, consistent with national and international law and based on the best available scientific information

    14.5.1
    Coverage of protected areas in relation to marine areas

    14.6

    By 2020, prohibit certain forms of fisheries subsidies which contribute to overcapacity and overfishing, eliminate subsidies that contribute to illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing and refrain from introducing new such subsidies, recognizing that appropriate and effective special and differential treatment for developing and least developed countries should be an integral part of the World Trade Organization fisheries subsidies negotiation

    14.6.1

    Degree of implementation of international instruments aiming to combat illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing

    14.7

    By 2030, increase the economic benefits to Small Island developing States and least developed countries from the sustainable use of marine resources, including through sustainable management of fisheries, aquaculture and tourism

    14.7.1

    Sustainable fisheries as a proportion of GDP in small island developing States, least developed countries and all countries

    14.a

    Increase scientific knowledge, develop research capacity and transfer marine technology, taking into account the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission Criteria and Guidelines on the Transfer of Marine Technology, in order to improve ocean health and to enhance the contribution of marine biodiversity to the development of developing countries, in particular small island developing States and least developed countries

    14.a.1
    Proportion of total research budget allocated to research in the field of marine technology

    14.b

    Provide access for small-scale artisanal fishers to marine resources and markets

    14.b.1

    Degree of application of a legal/regulatory/policy/institutional framework which recognizes and protects access rights for small‐scale fisheries

    14.c

    Enhance the conservation and sustainable use of oceans and their resources by implementing international law as reflected in United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, which provides the legal framework for the conservation and sustainable use of oceans and their resources, as recalled in paragraph 158 of "The future we want"

    14.c.1

    Number of countries making progress in ratifying, accepting and implementing through legal, policy and institutional frameworks, ocean-related instruments that implement international law, as reflected in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, for the conservation and sustainable use of the oceans and their resources

    Name Description
    14.1 By 2025, prevent and significantly reduce marine pollution of all kinds, in particular from land-based activities, including marine debris and nutrient pollution
    14.7 By 2030, increase the economic benefits to Small Island developing States and least developed countries from the sustainable use of marine resources, including through sustainable management of fisheries, aquaculture and tourism
    14.a Increase scientific knowledge, develop research capacity and transfer marine technology, taking into account the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission Criteria and Guidelines on the Transfer of Marine Technology, in order to improve ocean health and to enhance the contribution of marine biodiversity to the development of developing countries, in particular small island developing States and least developed countries
    Pilot of initial litter data collection methodology and educational intervention completed, New Zealand.
    Research to evaluate existing data and outreach methodologies/strategies and design the best path forward.
    Design and roll out litter data collection methodology and educational intervention in Hawaii and Papua New Guinea.
    Design and roll out litter data collection methodology and educational intervention in additional Pacific SIDS.
    Staff / Technical expertise
    10 full time staff with extensive scientific, technical, logistical and educational expertise.
    Financing (in USD)
    2000000
    In-kind contribution
    A $1 million purpose-built training space, The Flagship Education Centre, has been built in Auckland, New Zealand to host regional training and capacity development activities.
    Title Progress Status Submitted
    Partnership Progress 2019-01-28 On track
    Pacific plastic pollution: A system for regional grassroots solutions
    False
    Action Network
    Small Island Developing States
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    Timeline
    01 June 2017 (start date)
    01 April 2021 (date of completion)
    Entity
    The Sustainable Coastlines Charitable Trust
    SDGs
    Geographical coverage
    Auckland, New Zealand
    Other beneficiaries
    American Samoa, Cook Islands, Guam, French Polynesia, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, New Caledonia, Niue, Tokelau, Wallis and Futuna.
    Ocean Basins
    North Pacific, South Pacific
    Communities of Ocean Action
    Marine pollution, Sustainable fisheries, Sustainable blue economy, Scientific knowledge, research capacity development and transfer of marine technology
    Countries
    Fiji
    Fiji
    Kiribati
    Kiribati
    Marshall Islands
    Marshall Islands
    Nauru
    Nauru
    New Zealand
    New Zealand
    Palau
    Palau
    Papua New Guinea
    Papua New Guinea
    Samoa
    Samoa
    Solomon Islands
    Solomon Islands
    Tonga
    Tonga
    Tuvalu
    Tuvalu
    United States of America
    United States of America
    Vanuatu
    Vanuatu
    Contact Information

    Camden Howitt, Co-Founder and Coastlines Lead