Marine Litter Thematic Assessment

Are the measures working?

A regional breakdown is not really appropriate. Generally, OSPAR's collective measures and the different EU measures cover all the OSPAR Regions combined.

The North-East Atlantic Environment Strategy (2010 to 2020) committed to “develop appropriate programmes and measures to reduce amounts of litter in the marine environment and to stop litter entering the marine environment, both from sea-based and land-based sources”.

Action and measures to prevent pressures and/or to mitigate impacts

The primary instrument for achieving this was the OSPAR Regional Action Plan for Marine Litter (RAP ML). When adopted in 2014, it was at the forefront of international collaborative efforts to tackle the issues associated with marine litter.

The RAP ML set the policy context for OSPAR’s work on marine litter, but also contained actions that OSPAR committed to work on throughout the implementation period (2014-2020). These consisted of 32 collective actions and 23 national actions (adopted for national reporting on a two-yearly basis) which aimed to address both land-based and sea-based sources and pathways of marine litter, as well as education, outreach, and removal activities. Together, the collective actions and national actions formed a comprehensive strategy / approach to tackle marine litter, with the national actions designed to support implementation of the collective actions.

Information on the concrete outputs of actions / measures taken in the RAP ML can be found on the OSPAR webpage.

The overall assessment of the adequacy and effectiveness of marine litter measures draws on the RAP review assessment of effectiveness and its conclusions and recommendations, and includes other significant regional measures.

Progress on RAP ML actions

A review of the RAP ML was undertaken in October 2020, incorporating an assessment of the status of actions at the time, an analysis of the impact of those actions, as well as collecting feedback via a questionnaire from interested stakeholders, OSPAR Contracting Parties and observers. Those results were published in 2021 (https://www.ospar.org/documents?v=46422) and have been used to inform the initial stages of developing a new RAP for the post-2021 period.

Since the review was undertaken, the RAP ML (2014 to 2021) has been completed. Out of its 32 collective actions, 78% (25) were considered complete or fully implemented, 9% (3) as still in progress, and 13% (4) as limited in progress, with no further action foreseen.

Regarding the national actions, for all 12 Contracting Parties, over 50% of actions were either fully implemented or in progress, and for 11 Contracting Parties over 75% of actions were either fully implemented or in progress³.  No Contracting Party reported limited progress on more than six of the 23 actions. Three Contracting Parties had fully implemented 70% (or over) of the national actions and three Contracting Parties had fully implemented less than 5% of them.

OSPAR has also adopted specific recommendations partly resulting from RAP ML collective actions. For example, Recommendation 2016/01 promotes the establishment of Fishing for Litter (FFL) initiatives in the fishing harbours of Contracting Parties, supported by an associated target to ‘increase the total number of vessels participating in FFL schemes in the OSPAR Maritime Area by 100% by 2021, compared to the baseline situation in 2017’⁴.

"Fishing for Litter has several aims: to raise awareness among fishers about the impacts of marine litter, to change fishers’ waste-related behaviour while at sea and to directly remove litter from the sea. Participating fishers are provided with large, hard-wearing bags to keep on board their vessels. Any litter brought up in their nets is placed in the bag and delivered back in port at no cost to the fishers. This simple yet successful idea is recognised by other international marine protection bodies including the European Commission (which highlights it as best practice) and the UNEP Mediterranean Action Plan (for the Barcelona Regional Sea Convention)."

Recommendation 2019/01 aims at reducing marine litter by promoting the implementation of training programmes for fishers which address the social, economic, and ecological impacts of marine litter. OSPAR Recommendation 2021/06 aims at reducing plastic pellet loss by promoting the timely development and implementation of effective and consistent pellet-loss prevention standards and certification schemes for the entire supply chain.

Other Measures

Besides the RAP ML, other measures have been taken to combat marine litter. These include additional national actions resulting from implementing the EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD - 2008/56/EC) and other EU initiatives such as the Single-use Plastics Directive (EU 2019/904), the Plastic Bag Directive (EU 2015/720), the Port Reception Facilities Directive (EU 2019/883), work on microplastics and several EU-funded projects.  

Adequacy and Effectiveness of Measures

The initial review of the RAP ML concludes that the work completed under the RAP ML has been extensive but is not always easy to quantify or to illustrate through concrete outputs. Furthermore, the actions included in the RAP are in many cases so broad in nature that their true impact cannot be easily assessed when it comes to reducing quantities of marine litter in the North-East Atlantic. Behaviour and awareness remain at the heart of litter reduction and need to be supported by policy responses in order to manage marine litter.

The RAP ML was ambitious, and intentionally so, and has inspired action and progress in OSPAR Contracting Parties. The evidence to show that it has also inspired other similar international organisations is limited, but the experience of ICG-Marine Litter members who work in other international forums is that the OSPAR RAP ML has had a strong influence and inspired other international organisations (e.g., Arctic Council, G7, UN). Furthermore, OSPAR has contributed to the evidence base for and benefited from the adoption of recent EU initiatives, such as the Single-use Plastics Directive (EU 2019/904), the Plastic Bag Directive (EU 2015/720), the Port Reception Facilities Directive (EU 2019/883), work on microplastics and several EU-funded projects.

One of the main recognised outputs of the RAP ML has been to guide and steer advancements across OSPAR Contracting Parties on issues related to marine litter; the advancements in thinking and scientific understanding have been clear, although not always easy to measure. The role that OSPAR and the RAP ML play in coordinating efforts and sharing knowledge and information between Contracting Parties is paramount, according to stakeholders. Indeed, the value that Contracting Parties and OSPAR Observers apply to the RAP ML is an indication in itself of its impact and relevance.   

In terms of evidence of change in the quantities of marine litter in the North-East Atlantic, criteria such as threshold values for determining the effectiveness of measures do not yet exist, but these are currently being developed and adopted. However, there are initial signs of a decrease in the quantities of litter found on OSPAR beaches and of floating litter in the North Sea over the last 10 years (as identified through the OSPAR Indicator Assessments). When this is considered against the upward trend in plastics production and consumption in Europe over a similar period, as well as the predictions for plastic consumption and waste issues to intensify in the future, this suggests that there have been some significant positive changes to prevent plastic from entering the marine environment.

Footnotes

³Nine Contracting Parties had over 85%, 6 Contracting Parties over 90%

⁴OSPAR Contracting Party reporting on this target will be available in 2022