International Symposium: Challenges and Approaches to Addressing Problems of Marine Litter and Ocean Plastic

Organizer and Background

At the Osaka G20 leaders’ summit in June 2019, Prime Minister of Japan, Shinzo Abe announced the  “Osaka Blue Ocean Vision”, a global initiative to reduce additional pollution by marine plastic litter to zero by 2050.  The Government of Japan also launched “Marine initiative” to advance effective actions to combat marine plastic litter at a global scale focusing on (1) Management of wastes, (2) Recovery of marine litter, (3) Innovation, and (4) Empowerment. Supporting the cause, the Tokyo Development Learning Centre (TDLC) of the World Bank in association with City of Kitakyushu and Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES) is organizing a one-day international symposium in November 2019 to address marine plastic problems.   

During the Osaka G20 summit, while countries agreed to establish a consolidated international framework to address issues of marine plastic waste, there is a cognizance that each country faces different challenges in terms of plastic production, usage, and recycling. As such, therefore one-size-fits-all solutions may not be a suitable approach.  It is thus important for national and city-level policymakers and officials to understand their current circumstances, share challenges with relevant stakeholders and identify necessary political measures to address their environmental challenges. This international symposium aims to provide a platform to these officials and practitioners to share knowledge in addressing marine plastic waste issues in Japan and abroad. 

Session Themes

This side event will focus on two main pillars of marine plastic waste management: 

Global issues and efforts in marine plastic waste management

Marine plastic waste problems know no national borders. Efforts by many nations to solve them can be easily derailed by a small number of countries refusing to address the issue: while some countries invest a significant amount of time and cost to educate their citizens and preserve the coastal environment, other countries may fail to take any measures to reduce marine plastic waste. 

Speakers of this session will report their main challenges and measures (policy measures as well as day-to-day efforts) being taken to decrease the volume of marine plastic waste, including recycling and collection. 

Public-private partnership in marine plastic waste management

With the increasing international concerns on emerging issues in plastic waste management, the leading public sector has collaborated with the private sector to reduce plastic waste and promote the circular economy. It is extremely important to promote this kind of collaboration not only to speed up and scale up the marine plastic management initiatives, but also to enlighten citizens to be involved in plastic waste management movements. In this session, speakers will report the overview of and lessons learned from the latest public-private partnership projects.

Pamphlet "Challenges and Approaches to Addressing Problems of Marine Litter and Ocean Plastic" (PDF)