International Conference on Prevention and Management of Marine Litter in European Seas

Germany and the European Commission joined forces to organize the International Conference on Prevention and Management of Marine Litter in European Seas.  By sharing information across borders, initiating joint actions and identifying common goals it is our hope that this conference will make a difference in the collective fight against marine litter.

Here you can find the programme of the conference.

The conference aimed to:

1. Start filling in the obligation of Rio+20 through the facilitation and stimulation of cooperation between different stakeholders in order to stimulate the development of regional action plans.
2. Be the European contribution to the Honolulu strategy as the global approach on what possible measures and actions to take in order to tackle the problem.
3. Bring existing and planned marine litter initiatives to the attention of a wider audience, including politicians by providing a platform to collect and share good practices and commitments.
4. Support information exchange amongst Member States and a coherent implementation of the MSFD on European level in order to combat litter pollution of marine waters. Focus will be laid on the identification and implementation of programs of measures in 2015/2016 by MS as required for the further implementation of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD).

Participants of the conference included: Public sector representatives from Member States, Regional Seas Conventions, EC representatives and local authorities, stakeholders e.g. representatives from private sector associations of plastic producers, converters, recyclers, packaging industry, retailers, ferry ships, cruise ships, fisherman, port authorities as well as consumer organizations, environmental NGOs and research institutes.

The Organisation Committee for this conference consisted of:

• Stefanie Werner, German Federal Environment Agency (UBA)
• Leo de Vrees, European Commission, DG Environment
• Dagmar Larws, German Federal Environment Agency (UBA)
• Nicole Wanders-Wengler, European Commission, DG Environment
• Stephan Haufe, German Federal Environment Agency (UBA)
• Samuli Korpinen, HELCOM (Baltic Sea)
• Irina Makarenko, Bucharest Convention (Black Sea)
• Habib Elhabr, Barcelona Convention (Mediterranean Sea)
• Lex Oosterbaan, OSPAR (North-East Atlantic)
• Eduard Interwies, InterSus Sustainability Services
• Thomas Dworak, Fresh Thoughts