A/RES/74/19 Oceans and the law of the sea organizations and institutions that address the carbon budget of the ocean, 95 and in this regard encourages States and competent international organizations and other relevant institutions, individually and in cooperation, to urgently pursue further research on ocean acidification, especially programmes of observation and measurement, noting in particular the continued work under the Convention on Biological Diversity, and to increase national, regional and global efforts to address levels of ocean acidity and the negative impact of such acidity on vulnerable marine ecosystems, particularly coral reefs; 213. Encourages States, individually or in collaboration with relevant international organizations and bodies, to enhance their scientific activity to better understand the effects of climate change on the marine environment and marine biodiversity, support continued coordination of scientific work to study and minimize the impacts of ocean acidification and develop wa ys and means of adaptation, taking into account, as appropriate, the precautionary approach and ecosystem approaches; 214. Notes the vital role that coastal blue carbon ecosystems, including mangroves, tidal marshes and seagrasses, play in climate adaptation and mitigation through carbon sequestration, and in increasing the resilience of coastal ecosystems to ocean acidification, and the range of other benefits that these ecosystems provide, including sustainable livelihoods, food security and biodiversit y conservation, and coastal protection, and encourages States and relevant international institutions and organizations to work collaboratively to protect and restore coastal blue carbon ecosystems; 215. Recalls that, in “The future we want”, States noted with concern that the health of oceans and marine biodiversity are negatively affected by marine pollution, including marine debris, especially plastic, persistent organic pollutants, heavy metals and nitrogen-based compounds, from a number of marine and land-based sources, including shipping and land run-off, and that States committed to take action to reduce the incidence and impacts of such pollution on marine ecosystems, including through the effective implementation of relevant conventions adopted in the framework of the International Maritime Organization, and the follow-up of relevant initiatives such as the Global Programme of Action for the Protection of the Marine Environment from Land-based Activities, 96 as well as the adoption of coordinated strategies to this end, and that they further committed to take action, by 2025, based on collected scientific data, to achieve significant reductions in marine debris to prevent harm to the coastal and marine environment; 216. Encourages States, in accordance with the commitment expressed in “The future we want” and based on collected scientific data, to take action by 2025 to achieve significant reductions in marine debris to prevent harm to the coastal and marine environment; 217. Notes the discussions at the seventeenth meeting of the Informal Consultative Process, in 2016, which focused on the theme “Marine debris, plastics and microplastics” and which, inter alia, highlighted that the size of the problem had increased exponentially since the topic of marine debris was addressed at the sixth meeting of the Informal Consultative Process, in 2005, noted that marine debris in general, and plastics in particular, were some of the greatest environmental concerns of our time, along with climate change, ocean acidification and loss of biodiversity, discussed prevention and emphasized the need to address the issue, both downstream, through improved mechanisms for waste management, disposal and recycling, and __________________ 95 96 36/57 See World Meteorological Organization resolution 46 (Cg 17). A/51/116, annex II. 19-21313