Summary
On Tuesday, delegates to the seventeenth meeting of the UN Open-ended Informal Consultative Process on Oceans and the Law of the Sea (ICP-17) continued their discussions under the theme of “marine debris, plastics and microplastics.”
In the morning, delegates heard six presentations on the topic of “environmental, social and economic dimensions of marine debris, plastics and microplastics, and progress made in preventing, reducing and controlling pollution from marine debris, plastics and microplastics.” The discussions focused on: ecotoxicological impacts of microplastics on marine organisms; sea turtles and plastic debris in South America; risks posed by marine microplastic and nanoplastic debris to human health; considerations in the transition to a new plastics economy; monitoring of microplastics and hazardous chemicals in water, sediment and biota; and risk-based approaches to evaluating the environmental impacts of marine plastic pollution at local, national and global levels.
In the afternoon, delegates heard seven presentations on “challenges, lessons learned, best practices, and way forward to prevent, reduce and control pollution from marine debris, plastics and microplastics.” The discussion focused on: different perspectives, including Indonesian and Jamaican experiences; the importance of local government ownership of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, particularly Sustainable Development Goal 14 on oceans; activities of the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s ‘Marine Debris Program’; a regional seas approach to prevent, reduce and control pollution from marine debris; international and national implementation processes of the G7 Action Plan to combat Marine Litter and the EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive; and regional action plans for prevention and reduction.
IISD Reporting Services, through its ENB Meeting Coverage, has provided daily web coverage and a summary and analysis report from the 17th Meeting of the United Nations Open-ended Informal Consultative Process on Oceans and the Law of the Sea (ICP-17) - Marine Debris, Plastics and Microplastics. Our summary is available in HTML and PDF format.
Photos by IISD/ENB | Francis Dejon
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Presentations
L-R: Tamara Galloway, Exeter University, UK; Hideshige Takada, Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology; Andrew Booth, SINTEF
Materials and
Chemistry; Co-Chair Nicholas Emiliou, Cyprus; Co-Chair Gustavo Meza-Cuadra, Peru; Alice Hicuburundi, Secretary, ICP-17;
Diego
Alejandro Albareda, Inter-American Convention for the Protection and Conservation of Sea Turtles (IAC); Britta Denise Hardesty,
Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization, Australia (CSIRO);
and Nishan Degnarain, World Economic Forum (WEF)
Andrew Booth presented on the ecotoxicological impacts of microplastics on marine organisms.
Slide from a presentation by Alejandro Albareda, IAC Scientific Committee depicting plastic ingestion of sea turtles
Andrew Booth, SINTEF Materials and
Chemistry
Tamara Galloway, Exeter University, UK
Diego
Alejandro Albareda, IAC
Tamara Galloway explained that microplastics can be ingested through uptake across the
digestive system, following accumulation in the liver and gallbladder.
Nishan Degnarain, WEF
Hideshige Takada, Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology
Britta Denise Hardesty, CSIRO
Britta Denise Hardesty suggested a risk framework could be a useful lens for addressing the impact of marine debris on wildlife and fish.
Hideshige Takada discussed monitoring of microplastics and hazardous chemicals in water, sediment and biota.
Rishy Bukoree, Mauritius
Sigrid Lüber, Ocean Care
Jo Høvik, Norway
Angel Horna, Peru
Rana Burley, Canada
Penny Race, New Zealand
L-R: Co-Chair Nicholas Emiliou, Cyprus; Co-Chair Gustavo Meza-Cuadra, Peru; and Alice Hicuburundi, Secretary, ICP-17
L-R: Jo Høvik, Norway, in a discussion with Andrew Booth, SINTEF Materials
and
Chemistry
Delegates from the Philippines with (L-R) Maricris Laciste, Rose Raga, Vicky Tada, Mayor Belen Fernandez, Ana Christina
Sinlaw,
and Ryan Ravanzo
L-R: John Brincat, EU; Sidney Kemble, the Netherlands; and Sae Horikawa, Japan
Arif Havas Oegroseno, Deputy Minister, Coordinating Ministry for Maritime Affairs, Indonesia
Belen Fernandez, Mayor of Dagupan City, the Philippines
Anthony Glenroy McKenzie, National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA), Jamaica
Judith Neumann, Federal Ministry for
the Environment, Nature Conservation,
Building and Nuclear Safety, Germany
Johanna Eriksson, Swedish Agency for Marine and Water Management
Nancy Wallace, NOAA, US
Nilufer Oral, Istanbul Bilgi
University, Turkey
Fredrik Haag, International Maritime Organization (IMO)
Yolannie Cerrato Corrales, Honduras
Pablo Arrocha Olabuenaga, Mexico
L-R: Peter Thomson, Fiji, incoming President of the 71st UN General Assembly, with Semisi Seruitanoa, Fiji