In 2015, World Leaders agreed to 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Given that the goals have been in existence for around seven years, some measurable progress must have been made. Among the SDGs are some indicators to track progress in addressing the world challenge of pollution of the marine environment through plastics, nutrients, wastewater and other pollutants.

To tackle the world challenge of pollution and waste, GRID-Arendal supports global policy development through the UN frameworks, including the UN Environment Assembly (UNEA) and the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions. GRID-Arendal contributes to UNEA and to expert working groups on waste and marine litter and develops products to inform international policy-makers. Marine plastic pollution, circular economy, waste management, waste trade, and sanitation and wastewater are topics that GRID-Arendal is interested in for purposes of research and communication services.

GRID-Arendal also supports developing countries with capacity building and research on the impact of waste and marine litter, their sources and pathways. Our staff are developing technical research and communication tools and expertise to address waste and marine litter, including the leakage of plastic waste into the environment. We work closely with the Regional Seas Conventions and other UN agencies to find regional and global solutions to tackle the issue of waste and marine pollution.

Our global efforts to address the challenge of plastic pollution are emboldened by the recent unanimous agreement by world leaders to develop a legally binding treaty to end plastic pollution through the UNEA resolution End Plastic Pollution: Towards an international legally binding instrument.

GRID-Arendal (www.grida.no) is a Norwegian non-for-profit foundation that specializes in complex environmental issues. Its mission is to support environmentally sustainable development by communicating information that strengthens environmental management capacity and motivates decision-makers to act. Among other tasks, we seek to trace and report progress on key marine pollution indicators under the SDGs.

 

Contact: Clever Mafuta, Program Manager | Email: Clever.Mafuta@grida.no