With plastic pollution a major priority for governments across Asia, scientists have been working diligently to expand our understanding of the problem. But the research has varied widely across countries, including in methodologies, types of data collected, study areas, baselines, and other elements critical to governments who need to make policy decisions based on the research.
The National University of Singapore (NUS) and the Coordinating Body on the Seas of East Asia (COBSEA) have conducted a comprehensive review of nearly 400 scientific publications on marine plastic pollution in 13 countries in South East and East Asia. The review includes a comprehensive report of published plastic pollution research, policies and initiatives in ASEAN+3 as well as a searchable database of research and a series of graphics. It is the first review and database of its kind for the region.
It also identifies visible research groups and initiatives on this topic in the region. We hope that it will help strengthening cooperation in the region in this field and beyond and that you will find it useful.
This project was led by Ms Youna Lyons at the Centre for International Law and Dr Neo Mei Lin, our Resident Scientist at SJINML. Both were lead co-authors of this new publication. For more information, please see the following links.
UNEP Press release: https://www.unenvironment.org/cobsea/news/story/cobsea-and-national-university-singapore-launch-database-marine-litter-research-13-asia
Report and Online database: https://cil.nus.edu.sg/research/special-projects/#polllution-from-marine-plastics-in-the-seas-of-asean-plus-three
Scientific inventory: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1r4aCVQeCS1cj_Rhip82yVTNNnxkWDgFwbEIHCR_oASk/edit#gid=0
