Marine Litter Action Network To Be Created
The network will bring together decision makers who are involved with marine litter (including those affecting and effected by it) to focus on identifying shared solutions that will influence the measures that the UK Government puts in place. Representatives from a range of sectors and organisations, from academia, manufacturing industries to environmental organisations, will be attending thereby providing an inclusive and balanced approach.
Delegates will be given the opportunity to build on current knowledge, lessons learned and best practice, identify the key areas where effort is needed to reduce marine litter, and to contribute in the following year to devise an action plan to address this. Levels of marine litter in the UK are increasing at a rate that concerns us all. There is a requirement for Marine Strategy Framework Directive measures to be introduced by December 2015 and the network will facilitate a collective vision of measures that are realistic, challenging, and deliverable.
In order to address the complexities of marine litter it is important to work collaboratively with those already working on litter issues. 80% of the litter found on the UK’s beaches comes from terrestrial sources, so we need to look both inland, on our beaches as well as out to sea to reduce beach and marine rubbish.
The network will be launched on 3rd June with a conference event at Aston Business School Conference Centre and Hotel Birmingham. The event will be a ‘working’ conference rather than a ‘listening’ conference, designed to create momentum, new alliances and action. This will be followed by four technical workshops focusing on specific areas of marine litter in the following year reporting back a year later at the 2015 Marine Litter Action Network event to review progress and take forward solutions and actions.
Peter Davis, BPF Director General, is on the MLAN Steering Group. The BPF already has several initiatives to prevent Plastics from entering the marine environment.
For more information, please go to: www.mcsuk.org
Contact: Peter Davis, email [email protected], telephone 020 7457 5003
