RRI 2.0: Regional Research Inventory (beta version) - Invitation for feedback
The Regional Research Inventory (RRI) 2.0, which has been developed under the leadership and coordination of CIL, is a database of information extracted from publications on marine plastics found by the regional team. As of 13 December 2021, it includes 701 publications and 82 data fields on each publication. It has been developed on the basis of RRI 1.0 and seeks to bring together and make more accessible and visible regional data which is often scattered and difficult to access as well as provide a better understanding of the status of knowledge and research as well as the gaps.
The RRI 2.0 is hosted on Google Sheets and can be accessed via a beta version of an online visualisation and analytics platform developed for this purpose. This platform provides visual analytical graphs, and informative factsheets. The analytical graphs are visual presentations of the data from the RRI. The factsheets are bite-sized write-ups on various key topics within marine plastics pollution. Substantiated by the RRI 2.0 database, these graphs and factsheets seek to answer the 'so what' question of the findings and make sense of the scientific data for law and policy-making. Click on the image below <link image to: https://mapla-riv.web.app/> to visit the regional web platform and explore data and data visualisations. The online platform is currently in its beta stage and we welcome all feedback.
RRI 2.0 could not have been developed without the research energy of regional researchers focused on the protection of the marine environment and their goodwill and enthusiasm to team-up to improve the status of the marine environment in the region. The regional team involved in the development of the database was composed of more than 30 researchers from Southeast and East Asia.
It has been coordinated by a multi-disciplinary core team from the National University of Singapore (NUS) with the Centre for International Law (CIL) as overall lead coordinator and the Tropical Marine Science Institute (TMSI) as lead-controller of marine scientific data extraction. The NUS home team included regional researchers from Singapore, China, Indonesia, RO Korea and Vietnam. It was composed of Youna Lyons (PI), Cheng Ling Lim, 刘雨露 (Yulu Liu), Bùi Quang Huy (Bui Quang Huy), Dennis Tan, Dita Liliansa, 정다운 (Dawoon Jung), Sng Wen Xin, Vũ Hải Đăng (Vu Hai Dang) from CIL; Mei Lin Neo, Jenny Fong, Lee Hsien Rong Samuel and Theresa Su from TMSI.
The extended regional team, without whom the RRI 2.0 could not have been built, included Japareng Lalung and his team (Universiti Sains Malaysia, Malaysia), Changi Wong and Moritz Mueller (Swinburne Sarawak, Malaysia), Văn Phạm Đăng Trí (Van Pham Dang Tri) and Lê Hoàng Hải Anh (Le Hoang Hai Anh) (Can Tho University, Vietnam), Neil Angelo S. Abreo (University of the Philippines-Mindanao, the Philippines), Ronan Baculi and Deo Onda (Marine Science Institute, the Philippines), ชวลิต เจริญพงษ์ (Chawalit Net Charoenpong), ปิ่นมนัส บูชา (Pinamas Bucha), เพ็ญใจ สมพงษ์ชัยกุล (Penjai Sompongchaiyakul) and ราฮุล เมโรทรา (Rahul Mehrotra) (Chulalongkorn University, Thailand), Sulistiowati and Muhammad Reza Cordova (Indonesian Institute of Science (LIPI), Indonesia), သန္တာကိုကြီး (Thanda Ko Gyi) (Myanmar Ocean Project, Myanmar), 李道季 (Li Daoji) and 朱礼鑫 (Zhu Lixin) and their team (East China Normal University, China). Unfortunately, no Japanese researchers could join us. However, we will continue to extend the regional teams and contributing researchers, including from institutions in RO Korea and Japan.
The regional team hopes that RRI 2.0 can be maintained, updated, further developed and leveraged for policy-making purposes with continuing regional cooperation and partnership between research institutions in the region.
Separately, Yulu Liu and Cheng Ling Lim from CIL Ocean Law and Policy Programme participated in the 7th International Marine Debris Conference (7IMDC), held in Busan South Korea, 18-23 September 2022. They presented two posters and a power-point presentation prepared with Youna Lyons. The 7IMDC was organised by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries of the Republic of Korea, Korea Marine Environment Management Corporation (KOEM).
The poster titled “Making sense of published data on pollution from marine plastics in ASEAN+3” was part of Track topic 5.2: Science to Policy. It provides an overview of the data published on pollution from marine plastics captured in RRI 2.0., the rationale for its development and the future strategy envisioned.
The links for the download of the digital version of the full poster (A0 format) and of an A3 formatting of the same content (for ease of printing) are provided below:
