C.4.1 Bridge the gap between monitoring and policy

The RAP 1 review identified that there was a gap between policy and monitoring information. This action will bridge this gap and ensure that the policy and decision making is driven by available evidence and that the evidence can be used to measure the success of the mitigation measures. This action will build on the experience of how the beach litter indicator has been used to inform policy to see how we can better use other indicators or design new indicators, thereby improving knowledge and better understanding the problem to use in the decision making process.

To deliver this action OSPAR will;

a) Ensure that the monitoring data and assessments are used to inform RAP/ policy actions. That revisions and new findings (such as top items) are highlighted and drawn out and into the policy as they become available. Also, to make sure there are actions address priority evidence gaps such as source to sink connections and impacts through food chain and human consequences.

b) Ensure the RAP actions (and any future ones) connect to the monitoring and indicators so we can understand their impact and have a better understanding of the success of mitigation actions. Where actions are not connected to current indicators then the need for new indicators such as those looking at waste prevention/ reduction or land-basedsources should be considered.

c) Build on the harmonisation between the indicators (e.g., joint lists, same assessment criteria based on policy for easier comparison between assessments) and if not possible make the narrative clear as to how they connect and what they tell us about marine litter. In addition to the work on indicators for harm, review current advances in technology and innovation and ways to monitor marine litter as well as wider evidence gaps such as socio-economic ones. Prioritise in line with global indicators (SDG, CBD) future work.

This action will deliver outputs throughout the timeframe of the RAP 2.