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Overview
As a university-level research institutions, CIL undertakes interdisciplinary research projects on ocean issues, especially on the marine environment. These projects are led by Senior Research Fellow Youna Lyons from the Ocean Law and Policy team and involve multi-disciplinary teams and expertise from other research centres from NUS and outside.
Past special projects in international law include transboundary pollution and best treaty practice.
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Overview
The Ocean Law and Policy Programme has been engaged in the study of the international and regional governance of pollution from marine plastics since 2016. Our work has been supported by several project grants including from the Singapore Maritime Institute, the High Commission of the United Kingdom to Singapore, and the United Nations Environment Programme through the Coordinating Body on the Seas of East Asia (COBSEA).
This work involves the participation of the Centre for International Law in working groups and correspondence groups on marine plastics organized under the auspices of the Marine Environmental Protection Committee (MEPC) to the International Maritime Organization (IMO), the Conference of the Parties to the London Convention and its Protocol and its Scientific Group, as well as the Ad Hoc Open-Ended Expert Group (AHOEG) on Marine Litter and Microplastics. Youna LYONS, CIL Senior Research Fellow, has been nominated by Singapore Government as scientific expert in the Scientific Advising Group to this AHOEG.
Thus far, the multi-disciplinary team has carried out the following activities on pollution from marine plastics in the seas of East Asia:
- A 2020 report on “Status of Research, Legal and Policy Efforts on Marine Plastics in ASEAN+3: A Gap Analysis at the Interface of Science, Law and Policy”, written in collaboration with COBSEA, with support from the Global Partnership on Marine Litter (GPML) and the SEA circular project implemented by COBSEA and the United Nations Environment Programme. This report was prepared with the aim of supporting and strengthening marine litter research and informing more robust policy making, in line with applicable regional frameworks on marine litter.
- The co-organising of two sessions on “Understanding the Science and Governance of Pollution of Marine Plastics in Southeast Asia” at the SEA of Solutions conference in November 2019, which was organised by the UN Environment in Bangkok, Thailand. Click here for more information on this event.
- A 2019 report on “A Review of Research on Marine Plastics in Southeast Asia: Who Does What?”, written in partnership with St John’s Island National Marine Laboratory and the Tropical Marine Science Institute. The study was funded by the Government of the United Kingdom and supported by the Advisory Committee on Protection of the Sea (ACOPS), which participates as an observer to working groups on marine plastics at the MEPC to the IMP, and at the Conference of the Parties to the London Convention and Protocol.
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Database of Research, Legal and Policy Efforts on Pollution from Marine Plastics in ASEAN+3
NUS and the Coordinating Body on the Seas of East Asia (COBSEA), have conducted a comprehensive review of nearly 400 scientific publications on marine plastic pollution in 13 countries in South East and East Asia as well as legal and policy efforts by global and regional bodies and initiatives. The review includes a comprehensive report of published plastic pollution research, policies and initiatives in ASEAN+3 as well as a searchable database of research and a series of graphics. It is the first review and database of its kind for the region.The study, “Status of Research, Legal and Policy Efforts on Marine Plastics in ASEAN+3: A Gap Analysis at the Interface of Science, Law and Policy”, builds upon an earlier study by Lyons, Su and Neo (2019) titled “A review of research on marine plastics in Southeast Asia: Who does what?” which focused on ASEAN member states (Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao People’s Democratic Republic (PDR), Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam). This new study provides an updated review and extends the geographic scope to three neighbouring Asian countries: the People’s Republic of China (China), Japan, and the Republic of Korea (Korea). They are referred to together as ASEAN+3. The study is divided into two parts.
Part 1 focuses first on the status of scientific research on and understanding of pollution from marine plastics in ASEAN+3, including a regional summary of status. Second, it reviews and discusses the mandates, approach and status of work by international and regional intergovernmental bodies as well as relevant regional public-private and fully private initiatives that seek to combat pollution from marine plastics.
Part 2 is a gap analysis between scientific research and information needs for policy-making purposes, with a particular focus on the Regional Action Plan on Marine Litter (RAP MALI) of the Coordinating Body of the Seas of East Asia (COBSEA) whilst considering also the work of other regional bodies. This part also discusses regulatory approaches and obstacles to combat pollution from marine plastic based on four reviews on this. Recommendations on research needed and ways to improve the science-policy-law interface are provided at the end.
This study was prepared by a research team from several research centres at the National University of Singapore (NUS) under the coordination of the Centre for International Law (CIL), support from the Coordinating Body on the Seas of East Asia (COBSEA), with support from the Global Partnership on Marine Litter (GPML) and the SEA circular project implemented by COBSEA and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), as well as support by the Singapore Maritime Institute under CIL-MPA Oceans Governance Research Programme – Project ID SMI-2019-MA-03. The report was prepared with the aim of supporting and strengthening marine litter research and informing more robust policy making, in line with the COBSEA Regional Action on Marine Litter (RAP MALI) and other regional actions plans applicable in ASEAN+3.
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Executive Summary
Scope and Content
The scope of this study is pollution from marine plastic in Southeast Asia and East Asia, with a focus on the 13 member states of ASEAN+3: Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, The Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Viet Nam (Vietnam), plus The People’s Republic of China (China), Japan and The Republic of Korea (RO Korea)
The objective is to provide a comprehensive review of the current knowledge and scientific research on pollution from marine plastics in ASEAN+3, as well as the approaches and work streams on this topic by international and regional intergovernmental bodies and initiatives that have a relevant mandate or scope in this sphere. The study is divided into two main parts.
Part 1 focuses first on reviewing the status of scientific research on pollution from marine plastics in ASEAN+3. It includes an overall regional summary of this status and an analysis of the findings. Second, it reviews and discusses the mandates, approaches and status of work by international and regional intergovernmental bodies, as well as relevant regional public-private and fully-private initiatives that seek to combat pollution from marine plastics.
Part 2 is a gap analysis between the scientific research and the information needs for policy-making purposes, with a focus on the Regional Action Plan on Marine Litter (RAP MALI) of the Coordinating Body on the Seas of East Asia (COBSEA) and the ASEAN Framework of Action on Marine Debris (FAMAD). The work of other regional bodies is also considered. This part also discusses regulatory approaches and obstacles to combat pollution from marine plastics based on four previous reviews. Recommendations on research needed and ways to improve the science-policy-law interface are provided at the end.
Findings in Scientific Research
This study includes a stock-taking inventory of 371 scientific publications on pollution from marine plastics in ASEAN+3 from 2001 to 2019. The inventory is publicly available online at https://cutt.ly/kstW1Qy.
Of these publications, 145 are from ASEAN countries and the remaining 226 are from the three East Asian countries. Scientific research in marine plastics is an important and ongoing effort within ASEAN+3, particularly as most of the 145 research papers from the ASEAN countries were published from 2017 onwards. However, an analysis and comparison of the scientific research reveals a more nuanced picture. First, only RO Korea and Japan have published research in the full range of possible research areas. They both have publications in all 10 of the research clusters identified in this report. Second, China, Indonesia and Malaysia follow closely with nine out of 10 research clusters, although China has substantially more publications than the other two states. Finally, over the years, research foci on marine plastics in China, Japan and RO Korea have expanded from examining the distribution and presence of plastic debris in the environment and within organisms, to investigating the impacts of plastics in organisms through experiments and predictive models to improve environmental monitoring.
Of the 10 research clusters reviewed, the weakest research clusters relate to:
- the interactions of plastics with the marine environment, such as the impacts of plastic-associated (organic and inorganic) contaminants to the marine environment and organisms;
- social perceptions and behaviour in the context of measures to combat pollution from marine plastics;
- fragmentation, degradation patterns, behaviour and transport of plastic particles; and,
- contribution of plastics from marine fisheries (including ALDFGs) as well as other sea-based sources of pollution (including shipping and offshore installations).
Specific gaps within research clusters are:
- a lack of baseline on the distribution and abundance of plastic debris on the seabed and in the subsoil at the regional scale, including a lack of understanding of sources and pathways;
- plastic polymer-specific research (e.g. PP, PE, EPS, PET) based on their presence in the marine environment, and potential biological toxicity to marine biota;
- research on ecological and environmental impacts such as the physical and physiological impacts of marine debris in biota and marine habitats, including uptake and accumulation in the organisms’ bodies (e.g. respiratory and branchial systems), transfer of plastic particle through the food chain;
- research on microbial assemblages found on plastic debris in biota; as well as
- research on socio-economic impacts such as human health, food safety, and economic loss to quantitatively assess socio-economic costs due to marine plastic pollution in local communities.
Findings in the Work of Governmental Institutions and Other Initiatives
This study also analysed the work of seven global bodies or regimes that have a particular interest in marine plastic pollution. Three of these international bodies/regimes stood out with their interest in most research topics considered: UNEA and UNEP; the LC/LP, the body in charge of regulating disposal of waste at sea; and GESAMP, a UN research body. The critical work undertaken under the auspices of the Basel Convention to combat marine plastic pollution would therefore benefit from greater cooperation and outreach with these bodies at global and regional levels.
At regional level, five regional bodies that include different combinations of most of the ASEAN+3 countries are engaged in combatting pollution from marine plastics: the ASEAN, ASEAN+3, EAS (the East Asia Summit), COBSEA and APEC (the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation). The extent to which on-going research efforts are sufficient to support the work of these bodies as well as approaches to ensure mutually supporting efforts are included in the gap analysis and in the recommendations.
Gap Analysis at Regional Level
Whilst ongoing research is providing critical information to inform the work of intergovernmental bodies, as well as to engage other public or private initiatives involved in addressing pollution from marine plastics, there are several factors that limit the guidance that this research can provide to the identification of specific response measures:
1. Scientific uncertainty and risk assessment
Whilst understanding of exposure and ingestion of plastic has progressed greatly, there remains areas of uncertainty that limit the clarity needed by governments to adopt effective measures. This includes in particular, an understanding with sufficient granularity of:
1. The status of plastic pollution in the marine environment with adequate baselines in different environs and at a scale where policy measures can be adopted;
2. The transformation and fate of plastic particles in the marine environment (i.e. degradation, fragmentation, transport, sinking rate, etc);
3. Presence and persistence of different polymers in the marine environment and their toxicity to human health and marine ecosystems, including through associated organic and inorganic contaminants. Areas that need further research include the understanding of uptake by marine organisms through other paths than ingestion, experimental studies of physiochemical impacts, relative exposure of different species and ecosystems to entanglements, composition of microbial assemblages and tropic transfer; and
4. Different sources and pathways of plastic debris into the marine environment which are likely to be specific to activity and geography in order to adopt activity-specific measures and regulations that may be effective in decreasing input of marine plastics.
2. Priority in waste management: Closing the tap
The global discourse on combatting plastic pollution emphasises the development of a circular economy in order to reduce the production of plastic that may reach the natural environment. It is a mid- to long-term goal that all the UN documents emphasise and most agree on, even if as a conceptual goal. Whilst regional instruments also refer to the development of a circular economy, specific actions within these instruments focus instead on waste management, an immediate concern for most countries in SEA. Consistently, this report highlights the general focus of ASEAN+3 countries on waste management and their timid steps towards an Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) approach which would make producers responsible for the full management of their project’s life cycle.
The EPR measures adopted to date focus on involving private actors in the management of the post-use of the products distributed by them to consumers. Further elaboration of the components of a circular economy in SEA is necessary before specific measures can be effectively adopted on this path. This should include shared and agreed definitions of the meaning of biodegradability in the context of plastic materials, as well as their recyclability. Research and development in waste management, low cost-low and technology recycling technologies, biodegradability and new plastics are therefore critical. In this context, the clean-up measures highlighted in several regional action plans appear realistic and necessary until waste management measures become effective.
3. Research and protocol fragmentation
COBSEA RAP MALI and ASEAN FAMAD include the development of several guidelines, standards and national reporting with a coordinated approach. Common objectives include the development of regional guidance for the monitoring of marine plastic pollution and for standardised methods. The ASEAN FAMAD also proposes the development of baselines for pollution from marine plastics. As a number of guidelines and protocols are being used in ASEAN+3 that suit different context and available technologies, research on comparable measures and/or bioindicators would be useful for that purpose.
The number of articles in ASEAN+3 that discuss methodologies and surveys (66%) suggests that the region is ready to develop its own adequate standardised methodology or a set of methodologies that result in comparable measures of marine plastic pollution. Importantly, such methodologies should have both a scientific and a policy-making aim and build on existing guidelines such as those from GESAMP and IOC WESTPAC. For such standardized methodologies to be commonly used by scientists, they have to be vetted by the specialised research community of the region on this subject area, which means that they would have to be developed in consultation with both the scientific community and governments. Similarly, research could better inform national policy through improved communication channels between both spheres of work (research and governance/policy), whether directly or through regional organisations. Finally, buy-in of other relevant stakeholders is also critical to ensure implementation of policy. This suggests the need for further research cooperation that integrates public, civil society and private efforts. An example of this is the SEA of Solutions held at the UN regional headquarters in Bangkok in October 2019.
Recommendations
A dominating feature of this study is the multi-layered complexity of the issues raised by pollution from marine plastics globally, as well as at regional level, in ASEAN+3. This complexity includes 1) the number of intergovernmental institutions involved and the resulting fragmentation of the governance framework (if not conceptually, at least at human level), 2) the diversity of stakeholder groups, and 3) unresolved scientific questions and risk assessment of the impact of marine plastics on human health and on marine ecosystems. Recommendations are divided into four axes of work:
1. Substantive issues in need of further research
This is a summary of the most pressing research needs according to this study:
- Risk assessment approach to characterising the magnitude of the risk
- Standardisation of definitions for plastic products and biodegradability
- Sources and pathways into the marine environment, including the determination of criteria or guidelines for the identification of hotspots where clean-up may be considered and identification of prevalent land-based and sea-based sources of plastics
- Persistence, transformation, transport and fate in the marine environment, including a mapping of the behaviour, transport and fate of plastic particles in the marine environment as well as exposure and vulnerability of marine areas and resources of particular ecological, social or economic value
- Regional baseline and monitoring with standardised or comparable measures that include microplastics in the water-column, seabed and subsoil and sensitive habitats
- Progress on the understanding of impact on marine ecosystems and on human health, possibly through measures of exposure and magnitude of the risk
2. Research development and coordination aimed at coordinating among stakeholder groups to further develop and consolidate a multi-disciplinary regional expert community, knowledge management and data sharing, as well as stakeholder engagement and consultation.
Research centres from ASEAN+3 that are engaged in supporting the East Asian Seas Regional Node of the GPML regional node could function as an organisational backbone of this network of regional experts. The agenda of this network of exchange would be focusing on addressing concerns and priorities highlighted by COBSEA WGML, taking into account the ASEAN’s action plan and priorities in order to ensure consistency and mutual benefits for the region.
The research inventory established through this study for the region and made available online on the website of NUS Centre for International Law will be maintained to be used as a first regional database for knowledge management and transfer. It has been developed to be further enriched and updated over time.
3. Cooperation bridges between relevant intergovernmental institutions and with regional experts to develop guidelines and standardised definitions and procedures that may be used consistently throughout the region. Activities shared across regional bodies and open fora such as those that COBSEA may organise in the context of the GMPL may be leveraged for this purpose. In particular, mechanisms of exchange need to be developed between the ASEAN and ASEAN+ and COBSEA. Coordination with the EAS and APEC is also advised in order to synergise efforts and optimise resources.
4. Develop context-specific outreach and education to ensure effective transfer of relevant knowledge and capacity building in local coastal communities, as well as more generally, plastic producers, retailers and users.
Such transfer requires further research on social perception of pollution from marine plastics to improve the understanding of the readiness of relevant communities and stakeholder groups to embrace new measures, the barriers that may be encountered and the threshold of acceptability of different types of measures. Findings from research on these issues would usefully inform realistic and effective policy-making at local and national level. It would also be valuable to inform regional policy-making (in regional bodies) and support the taking into account commonalities and differences.
- Research Inventory
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Sponsors and Partners
The National University of Singapore (NUS) is Singapore’s flagship university which has nurtured generations of talent since their founding in 1905. NUS aspire to be a vital community of academics, researchers, staff, students and alumni working together in a spirit of innovation and enterprise for a better world. http://www.nus.edu.sg/
Centre of International Law (CIL) was established as a university-level research institute at the NUS in 2009, in response to the growing need for international law thought leadership and capacity building in the Asia-Pacific region. CIL’s focus areas of research and training are ocean law and policy, ASEAN law and policy, investment law and policy, and international law and practice. https://cil.nus.edu.sg/
The Tropical Marine Science Institute (TMSI) is a centre of excellence for research, development and
consultancy in tropical marine science as well as environmental science. With its multi-disciplinary research laboratories and active international links, it handles projects relevant to physical oceanography, acoustics, marine biology, marine mammals, biofuels, water resources and climate change. https://www.tmsi.nus.edu.sg/St. John’s Island National Marine Laboratory (SJINML) is the only offshore marine research facility in Singapore, established under the National Research Infrastructure scheme and was officially launched in 2016. The SJINML serves as a national resource and focal point for marine science expertise, supporting marine science research that meets Singapore’s future strategic national needs. http://sjinml.nus.edu.sg/
The Coordinating Body on the Seas of East Asia (COBSEA) is a regional intergovernmental mechanism and one of 18 Regional Seas programmes. It is the decision-making body for the East Asian Seas Action Plan, bringing together nine countries – Cambodia, People’s Republic of China, Indonesia, Republic of Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, Singapore and Viet Nam – in protection and sustainable development of the marine and coastal environment. COBSEA focuses on marine pollution, ecosystem-based marine and coastal planning and management, and ocean governance. The COBSEA Secretariat is hosted by Thailand and administered by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). www.cobsea.org
The Global Partnership on Marine Litter (GPML) is a multi-stakeholder partnership that provides a unique mechanism to bring together all actors working to prevent marine litter and microplastics, with the aim of sharing knowledge and experience and advancing solutions to this pressing global issue. Its mission is to protect the global marine environment, human wellbeing and animal welfare by addressing the global problem of marine litter, in line with Target 14.1 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Any entity working to prevent and reduce marine litter can join the Partnership at: www.gpmarinelitter.org
The SEA circular project is implemented by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Coordinating Body on the Seas of East Asia (COBSEA), with support from the Swedish Government. SEA circular works in partnership with governments, businesses, civil society, academia, and international partners to reduce and prevent plastic pollution. The initiative promotes market-based solutions and enabling policies to transform plastic value-chain management, strengthens the science base for informed decision making, engages consumers and disadvantaged groups through targeted outreach, and leverages COBSEA’s regional mechanisms to tackle the transboundary challenge of marine litter. www.sea-circular.org
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Report Download
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SEA of Solutions
CIL has also led a multi-disciplinary team of researchers from NUS to the SEA of Solutions organized by UN Environment at UN Headquarters in Bangkok on 11-14 November 2019 and sponsored speakers for two sessions. Click here for more information on this event.
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First Review of Research on Marine Plastics in Southeast Asia: Who Does What? (May 2019)
In May 2019, CIL has completed a report ‘A Review of Research on Marine Plastics in Southeast Asia: Who Does What?‘, in partnership with St John’s Island National Marine Laboratory, the Tropical Marine Science Institute, with the financial support of the Government of the United Kingdom and with the support of the Advisory Committee on Protection of the Sea (ACOPS) who participates as an observer to working groups on marine plastics at the Marine Environment Protection Committee of the International Maritime Organisation and at the Conference of the Parties to the London Convention and Protocol.
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Overview
Prospect for IMO measures in Ecologically or Biologically Significant Areas (EBSAs) under the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)
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Overview
CIL-OLP is coordinating a feasibility study for the development of a Regional Knowledge Organisation System for Marine Environmental Data in Southeast Asia (KOSMESEA). The project started in October 2019 and is due for completion on 30 June 2021.
The ambition of this project is to investigate the feasibility of a KOSMESEA through enhancing accessibility of regional marine environmental data with a view to inform implementation of ocean law and policy. The approach taken is that such development would also improve the protection of the marine environment and management of marine and coastal resources.
The idea of a KOSMESEA is based on the observation that records of marine environmental data relating to Southeast Asia are scattered around the world in a number of private and institutional hands, in different formats including digital and hard copy documents, as well as in global and regional databases developed for different purposes, for different taxa and/or for different geographical areas. These databases also have different digital architectures and metadata.
KOSMESEA involves several parallel workstreams:
- Inventory of relevant online data sources for the region and their metadata (including databases, reports and peer-reviewed publications),
- Exploration of potential partnership with regional data repositories, and
- Pilot study and data aggregation for three species that occur in the seas of Southeast Asia: a finger coral (Acropora humilis), the big eye tuna (Thunnus obesus) and the bottlenose wedgefish (Rhynchobatus australiae).
KOSMESEA core project team brings together expertise in marine sciences, ocean law and policy and computer sciences. Since October 2019, It has been composed of three co-leads Youna Lyons, Danwei Huang and Zeehan Jaafar and three members (Choo Heng Kek, Lim Cheng Ling and Clarence Sim) as well as additional support provided by NUS colleagues and students. The team has also partnered with NUS Library which provides additional expertise and support on metadata, data organisation systems and data hosting.
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Overview
NUS Satellite Research Project on the South China Sea
CIL led and coordinated a special project on the South China Sea entitled ‘Multidisciplinary Satellite Survey of the Shallow Geographic Feature in the SCS’. This Project involved a satellite image-based mapping of all visible insular geographic features in the SCS, including natural and man-made features, description of their geographic characteristics, natural coastal and marine habitats as well as land cover. It seeks to provide baseline information for further research on marine ecosystems and biodiversity of insular geographic features in the South China Sea.Click here to access data obtained from this Project.
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CIL-organised conference on 'Transboundary Pollution: Evolving Issues of International Law and Policy
This conference has been organized in 2014 and followed by the publication of an edited volume of the same title in 2015. The conference and publication examined the international legal principles governing transboundary pollution; the application of the state responsibility doctrine in the context of transboundary pollution; the international legal framework established to address specific types of transboundary pollution, including pollution of the marine environment and shared water resources, nuclear pollution and air pollution; and case studies of European, Asian and Southeast Asian countries to demonstrate how the legal framework has been applied in practice within a regional context.
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Research Project on Treaty Law and Practice
Project Directors: Jill Barrett and Robert Beckman
Project Coordinator: Ranyta YusranCIL is engaged in a project to carry out training and research on treaty law and practice. The project aims to improve treaty law and practice in Southeast Asia countries and ASEAN and to publish a handbook on best treaty practice for a broad readership worldwide in governments, international organisations and beyond. The project began with CIL and the British Institute of International & Comparative Law (the Institute) collaboration in holding an International Workshop on Treaty Law and Practice for government officials in Southeast Asia and ASEAN Secretariat (ASEC) officials that took place in Singapore in January 2012. CIL and the Institute have engaged treaty experts with extensive practical experience in dealing with treaties to provide advice and contribute to the 2012 Workshop and the initial writing of the handbook.
At the end of its collaboration with the Institute, CIL and the ASEC, with the support of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, held a second workshop on Treaty Management in International Organisations: Lessons Learnt and ASEAN Practice in Jakarta in December 2016. Apart from contributing to the common understanding on treaty management work in international organisations, especially the ASEC, the second workshop forms an indispensable part in the drafting of the handbook as it discussed the ins and outs of a treaty office in managing its organisation’s instruments.
Both the trainings and the drafting of the handbook have engaged treaty experts with extensive practical experience in dealing with treaties, in particular Jill Barrett, then Senior Research Fellow of the Institute and former Legal Counsellor, Foreign and Commonwealth Office; Paul Barnett, then Visiting Fellow of the Institute and former Head of Treaty Section, Foreign and Commonwealth Office; and Gerard Limburg, former Director of Treaties, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. CIL is also grateful for the participation of Elise Cornu and Ana Gomez Heredero, the then and current Head of the Treaty Office Unit, Council of Europe, and Anthony Wetherall, CIL Senior Research Fellow and former Legal Officer at the International Atomic Energy Agency. CIL is also supported in this project by a team of ASEAN Law and Policy Research Fellows and Associates. Associate Professor Robert Beckman, CIL Head of Ocean Law and Policy, is co-authoring the handbook together with Jill Barrett.
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