India, Australia, and Singapore conduct an international workshop on marine pollution
The Government of India, in partnership with the Government of Australia and the Government of Singapore, have conducted an international workshop on combating marine pollution focusing on marine plastic debris on February 14-15, the Ministry of Earth Science informed on Tuesday.
India, Australia, and Singapore have joined forces for research interventions toward monitoring and assessing marine litter and plausible sustainable solutions to address the global marine plastic pollution issue, an official statement said on Tuesday.
The workshop had four major sessions: the magnitude of the marine litter problem-monitoring programme and research on plastic debris in the Indo-Pacific Region, best practices and technologies, solutions to prevent plastic pollution, and polymers and plastics: Technology and innovations and opportunities for regional collaboration to remediate or stop plastic pollution.
India’s Secretary, Earth Sciences, Dr. M Ravichandran, while delivering the keynote address at the virtual international workshop suggested that considering the application of technological tools such as remote sensing, artificial intelligence, and machine learning to map the distribution of marine plastics and developing models to understand the dynamics of plastics in the Indian Ocean.
He also emphasized that a well-designed and tailor-made management strategy considering regional distinctiveness will significantly reduce plastics in the environment, an Earth Sciences Ministry statement said.
The event also provided an impetus to East Asia Summit (EAS) countries for exploring and informing each other about the challenges, questions, and solutions to marine litter – especially plastic research, use, design, disposal, recycling, and future collaborations for a plastic-free and healthy ocean for sustainable development through knowledge partners – India’s National Centre for Coastal Research (NCCR), Singapore and Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced the agenda of promoting maritime cooperation in the wider Indo-Pacific region at the 14th EAS held in Bangkok in November 2019. India, Singapore, and Australia are committed to implementing the EAS decisions.
The EAS is the premier forum for discussions on important strategic issues in the Indo-Pacific and a leading confidence-building mechanism. Since its inception in 2005, it has been advocating regional peace, security, closer regional cooperation, and prosperity of the Asia-Pacific and the Indian Ocean region.
“The EAS is uniquely placed to share expertise and lessons learned between regions and sub-regions faced with interlinked and similar challenges to develop sustainable transboundary solutions. EAS countries recognize the coastal and marine plastic pollution challenge. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced the agenda of promoting maritime cooperation in the wider Indo-Pacific region at the 14th EAS held in Bangkok in November 2019,” the statement said.
[With Inputs from IANS]
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