Vanuatu a lead partnering country in international project to prevent and reduce marine plastic litter from ships

The United Nations International Maritime Organization (IMO), with the funding support of Norway, and in partnership with the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), will implement a Global Programme entitled GloLitter Partnerships (GLP) Project which aims to assist developing countries prevent and reduce marine plastic litter from the maritime transport and fisheries sectors.

It will also identify opportunities for the reduction of plastic uses in both industries.

A large number of countries had shown interest in participating in this flagship project and Vanuatu has qualified to be a Lead Partnering Country (LPC) with 9 other countries around the world.

“Vanuatu has not only secured but also led the marine plastic litter from ships agenda at the IMO for the last 4 years and it seemed quite logical that we applied for this important project that we successfully qualified for,” said Vanuatu Permanent Representative to the IMO, Ambassador Laurent Parenté.

The GLP Project will aim to expand government and port management capacities and initiate legal, policy and institutional reforms at the country level.

These initiatives will be strategically linked with ongoing global and regional actions related to sea-based marine plastic litter (SBMPL) such as those identified in the IMO Action Plan to Address Marine Plastic Litter from Ships (which Vanuatu initiated and largely contributed to) and in complementary actions as identified in the FAO Voluntary Guidelines for the Marking of Fishing Gear.

“This project as a great opportunity for the country to champion once again the fight against marine plastic litter from ships and specially from fishing vessels, the lost, abandoned or discarded fishing gear representing a large source of marine plastic litter worldwide,” said Ambassador Parenté.

The Ambassador is currently pushing to make the reporting of lost fishing gears and the marking of fishing gear mandatory under a specific IMO international convention known as MARPOL.

The Director of the Fisheries Department, Mr. William Naviti sees this project as a great opportunity for the development of regulatory and best practice guidelines and tools to prevent and reduce ghost fishing via reduction of fishing gears’ plastic litter.

“This project fits perfectly with our current involvement with the Global Ghost Gear Initiative (GGGI) focusing on solving the problem of lost and abandoned fishing gear worldwide,” said Director Naviti.

The Office of the Maritime Regulator (OMR) has been designated the Lead Agency to coordinate this project at the national level and Regulator Hickson Siba has expressed his deep gratitude to those involved in the selection process and is looking forward to initiate this project at the national level for the good of the country.

“Our first actions will consist in developing a National Work Plan (NWP) and establish a cross-sectoral National Task Force (NTF) that will represent major stakeholders and will act as a national steering group for the activities in the NWP,” declared the Regulator.

(Source; Vanuatu Daily Post news 16 February 2021)