Action Plan for Marine Litter

The vast quantities and adverse impacts of man-made solid waste, mostly plastics, that end up in the oceans and become marine litter has been identified as one of the most pressing global challenges of our time.

OSPAR has been at the forefront of international efforts to tackle the marine litter problem since the adoption of its first Regional Action Plan (RAP) for Marine Litter (RAP ML) (2014-2021). Implementation of the 2014 RAP-ML was completed in June 2021. At that point OSPAR Contracting Parties had completed 25 out of the 32 collective actions; 3 were still in progress and 4 had been set aside. Recent OSPAR indicator assessments showed some signs of reductions in marine litter levels but there is still a long way to go. OSPAR has published an extensive evaluation of the impacts and effectiveness of the 2014 RAP-ML.

A Second OSPAR Regional Action Plan (RAP ML 2) was adopted in June 2022. This sets out the policy context for OSPAR’s work to address marine litter within the North-East Atlantic and directly contributes to delivering strategic objective 4 (SO4) and the related 8 operational objectives on Marine Litter set out in the North-East Atlantic Environment Strategy 2030.

Strategic Objective (SO) 4: Prevent inputs of and significantly reduce marine litter, including microplastics, to reach levels that do not cause adverse effects to the marine and coastal environment with the ultimate aim of eliminating inputs of litter.

The RAP ML 2 describes priority thematic areas and defines a programme of coordinated, collective actions where the OSPAR Commission can best contribute to tackling this ubiquitous challenge and ensuring progress towards OSPAR’s ambitious marine litter targets. It will be implemented between 2022 and 2030, aligning with the timeframe of the NEAES 2030.

OSPAR has agreed two targets for reducing marine litter:

- to reduce commonly found single-use plastic items and maritime-related plastic items on beaches by 50% by 2025 and by 75% by 2030, compared to a 2016 baseline; and

- a 70% reduction in the prevalence of all marine litter on beaches by 2030.