Tag Archives: litter

Apr26

Addressing challenges at the European Maritime Day: Reducing marine litter for the sake of the environment… and blue growth?

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Addressing challenges at the European Maritime Day: Reducing marine litter for the sake of the environment… and blue growth?

Source: H2020

The Horizon 2020 Capacity Building/Mediterranean Environment Programme in cooperation with Seas At Risk and Waste Free Oceans, within the framework of the European Maritime Day, will hold an event under the title “Reducing marine litter for the sake of the environment… and blue growth?” The event will focus on the economic implications of marine litter and will shed ample light on the ways marine litter affects key sectors that rely on the marine environment.

The European Maritime Day is celebrated every year in May, across the European Union to showcase the importance of the sea and oceans for our everyday life. This year, Gothenburg (Sweden) is hosting the 5th edition of the European Maritime Day Conference where a great number of participants will gather to discuss the opportunities and challenges currently faced by maritime regions and sectors across Europe: from tourism and fisheries to maritime transport and climate change. The main focus of the conference will be on “Sustainable growth from the oceans, seas and the coasts”. The European Commission is the organizer of the event, with the government of Sweden, Region Västra Götaland and the City of Gothenburg acting as local partners.

The event will act as a platform for dialogue offering the opportunity to a wide range of stakeholders, from policy makers to NGOs, industry representatives and local authorities, to exchange views and experiences on all related challenges, providing a holistic approach on the issue and focusing on an array of challenges relevant to the concept of ‘blue growth’. The event also aims to outline the need for setting ambitious reduction targets by Member States by July 2012 under the Marine Strategy Framework Directive.

The event will take place on the 22nd of May, 10.00-11.30 and the list of speakers includes:

  • Mr. Anders Flanking, State Secretary, Ministry of the Environment, Sweden.
  • Prof. Michael Scoullos, University of Athens, Team Leader of Horizon 2020 Capacity Building/Mediterranean Environment Programme (H2020 CB/MEP), Chairman of the Mediterranean Information Office for Environment, Culture and Sustainable Development (MIO-ECSDE).
  • Dr. Monica Verbeek, Executive Director of Seas At Risk (SAR).
  • Bernard Merkx, Project Manager, Waste Free Oceans (WFO).
  • Mrs Monica Jägholt Gripp, President of Kommunenes Internasjonale Miljøorganisasjon (KIMO).

Find more info on the event here

Back-to-back with the European Maritime Day and within the framework of H2020 CB/MEP the Mediterranean Information Office for Environment, Culture and Sustainable Development (MIO-ECSDE) and ACR+, in collaboration with UNEP/MAP are organizing an intensive training on Minimizing Marine Litter in the Mediterranean, 21-23 May, 2012 with trainees from most Mediterranean countries.

 

Dec22

STAP released two new publications on hypoxia and marine debris

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STAP released two new publications on hypoxia and marine debris

Scientific and Technical Advisory Panel of the Global Environment Facility (STAP-GEF) has released four new publications for the 41st GEF Council. Two of these publications – “Hypoxia and Nutrient Reduction in the Coastal Zone: Advice for Prevention, Remediation and Research” and “Marine Debris as a Global Environmental Problem: Introducing a solutions based framework focused on plastic” inform the GEF Council, its partners and the global environmental community about the growing threats facing our oceans – namely the increasing number of oxygen-depleted zones caused by eutrophication and hitherto unrecognized damage to marine ecosystems from plastic pollution, respectively.  These two documents reflect upon our increasing understanding of consumption and production patterns on land, and their impact on the global health of the oceans – potentially with irreversible consequences for its ecosystems. In addition to looking at the scientific evidence behind these problems, the STAP documents propose a range of innovative ways on how to address these pressing global environmental concerns, particularly by the GEF.

The science and course of actions covered in these documents also apply to the wider scientific community, practitioners in the field, and policy-makers working on the global environment.

Full reports can be downloaded at:
http://www.unep.org/stap/Portals/61/IWC6%20-%20Hypoxia/STAP_Hypoxia_low.pdf
and
http://www.unep.org/stap/Portals/61/pubs/STAP%20MarineDebris%20-%20website.pdf