A/RES/74/19
Oceans and the law of the sea
223. Encourages States to further develop partnerships with industry and civil
society to raise awareness of the extent of the impact of marine debris on the
biological diversity, health and productivity of the marine environment and
consequent economic loss and to cooperate with other States, industry and civil
society, as appropriate, on environmentally sound and cost-effective measures to
prevent and reduce, as appropriate, marine debris and microplastics in the marine
environment, including through strengthened cooperation under the Global
Partnership on Marine Litter;
224. Urges States to integrate the issue of marine debris into national and, as
appropriate, regional strategies dealing with waste management, especially in the
coastal zone, ports and maritime industries, including recycling, reuse, reduction and
disposal, to consider developing an integrated waste management infrastructure and
to encourage the development of appropriate economic incentives with the aim of
reducing marine debris to address this issue, including the development of cost recovery systems that provide an incentive to use port reception facilities and
discourage ships from discharging marine debris at sea, and support for measures to
prevent, reduce and control pollution from any source, including land -based sources,
such as community-based coastal and waterway clean-up and monitoring activities,
and encourages States to cooperate regionally and subregionally to identify potential
sources and coastal and oceanic locations where marine debris aggregates and to
develop and implement joint prevention programmes for marine debris and to develop
and implement environmentally sound options for recovery programmes, as well as
to raise awareness of the issue of marine debris and the need to consider
environmentally sound options for its removal;
225. Notes the activities carried out by organizations at the regional level to
develop and implement regional action plans and other joint prevention and recovery
programmes for marine debris, and further notes in this regard, the revised Regional
Action Plan on Marine Litter adopted at the twenty-fourth Intergovernmental Meeting
of the Coordinating Body on the Seas of East Asia, held in Bali, Indonesia, on 19 and
20 June 2019, which comprises actions to prevent and reduce marine litter from
land-based sources as well as sea-based sources, monitoring and assessment of marine
litter, and activities supporting implementation, the twenty-third Intergovernmental
Meeting of the Northwest Pacific Action Plan, held in Moscow from 9 to 11 October
2018, and the Bangkok Declaration on Combating Marine Debris in the ASEAN
Region, adopted at the thirty-fourth Summit of the Association of Southeast Asian
Nations, held in Bangkok on 22 June 2019, to enhance efforts in addressing the issue
of marine debris;
226. Also notes the work done under the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation
framework to share best practices, enable innovative waste management financing
and encourage public-private partnerships in order to prevent and reduce marine
debris, including the outcomes of the 2018 workshop hosted by the Republic of
Korea, which informed the APEC Road Map on Marine Debris endorsed in 2019 at
the Senior Officials’ Meeting in Chile;
227. Welcomes the ongoing work of the members of the Group of 20 on the
“Osaka Blue Ocean Vision”, which aims to reduce additional pollution by marine
plastic litter to zero by 2050, and calls upon other members of the international
community to also share the vision;
228. Encourages States that have not yet done so to become parties to
international agreements addressing the protection and preservation of the marine
environment and its living marine resources against the introduction of harmful
aquatic organisms and pathogens and marine pollution from all sources, including the
dumping of wastes and other matter, and other forms of physical degradation, as well
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