In light of the global issue of marine plastic litter, IMO and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) shake their hands and inked an agreement in order to prevent and reduce marine plastic litter coming from shipping and fisheries.
In fact, the agreement focuses on how the agencies will jointly execute the project and marks the next step towards many strategic partnerships anticipated under the project.
Through their collaboration, both sides will move forward and jointly implement the GloLitter Partnerships Project, initially launched in December 2019, with funding from Norway.
For the records, the GloLitter project will help developing countries to identify opportunities to prevent and reduce marine litter, including plastic litter, from within the maritime transport and fisheries sectors, and to decrease the use of plastics in these industries.
It will identify opportunities to re-use and recycle plastics. It will directly help to achieve one of the of the specific targets in the global Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 14 – to prevent and significantly reduce marine pollution of all kinds, in particular from land-based activities, including marine debris and nutrient pollution, by 2025.
….as IMO noted in its statement.
Moreover, IMO and FAO will now reach out to their respective fields to strengthen cooperation, not least private sector participation through a Global Industry Alliance.
Concluding the agreement was signed on 14 April 2020 Dr. Jose Matheickal, Chief of the Department of Partnerships and Projects, IMO, and Roberto Ridolfi, Assistant Director General of FAO. Countries that are interested to join the project can submit their expression until 30 April.
