CIL Informal Roundtable on Governance of and Research on Pollution from Marine Plastics in Southeast Asia

25 September 2019, Wednesday 10am–1pm
The UnionSPACE Satrio Tower, South Jakarta, Indonesia

Background
Several international organisations have highlighted that Southeast Asia is one of the main contributors to the amount of plastic found in the marine environment. Reports indicate that along with China, Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Thailand are the sources for more than half of the volume of plastics leaked into the ocean every year. The bleak prediction that follows is that if no action is taken, there will be more plastic than fish in the ocean by 2050.

Recently, many initiatives and programmes have been launched at the global and regional level to combat marine plastics, including the ASEAN and COBSEA, which have expressed their determination to combat marine plastics pollution in the region.

In this context, CIL hosted this informal roundtable discussion on governance of and research on marine plastic pollution in Southeast Asia. The purpose of this event was to exchange information, research and ideas on pollution from marine plastics in Southeast Asia and to examine ways in which we can improve collaboration to better support the development of a regional response to this complex and multifaceted pollution stream.

Roundtable participants
Participants to the roundtable include representatives from the ASEAN Secretariat, relevant ministries from the Indonesian government, research institutes and think tanks, as well as different permanent missions to ASEAN.

The following presentations can be consulted:

• Brief description of CIL recent report on pollution from marine plastics in Southeast Asia, titled 'A review of research on marine plastics in Southeast Asia: who does what?' and of the work it has led to.
• Dr Agung Dhamar Syakti from Raja Ali Haji Maritime University introduced ongoing monitoring of marine plastic debris in Riau Islands. Evolution of the project can be followed here.
  Dr Susanna Nurdjaman and Dr Ivonne M Radjawane from Bandung Institute of Technology shared the works of their Oceanography Research Group on marine debris monitoring and modeling in Indonesian Seas (including backtracking from accumulation to sources).
• Dr Sapta Putra from the Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries made a comprehensive presentation about the policy and measures of the Indonesian government on fighting pollution from marine plastics.