Save the Oceans from Marine Plastic Litter: A Global Calling
Join us for a webinar on March 23, 2021 at 7:00 PM JST/10:00 AM GMT/5:00 AM CDT.
Hosted by the Government of Japan, In collaboration with Global Partnership on Marine Litter (GPML)
Register for free
The amount of marine plastic litter is extremely large; a report estimates about eight million tons of plastic litter are discharged into the ocean every year worldwide and forecasts the weight of plastic litter in the ocean will exceed the weight of fish in 2050.
To combat this shared pressing issue, the Government of Japan proposed the "Osaka Blue Ocean Vision," which aims to reduce additional pollution by marine plastic litter to zero by 2050 at the G20 Osaka Summit held in June 2019 and was shared among the G20 leaders.
The Government of Japan will host the webinar “ Save the Oceans from Marine Plastic Litter: A Global Calling” in collaboration with Global Partnership on Marine Litter, to dive into the issue of marine litter and microplastics pollution and solutions, inviting two leading experts in the field: Professor Atsuhiko Isobe, Research Institute for Applied Mechanics, Kyushu University and Dr. Peter John Kershaw, independent marine environmental consultant based in the UK. They will discuss progress following the G20 Osaka Summit in 2019, cutting edge research technologies in action, and how we should work globally together, to sustainably save our Ocean.
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.
SPEAKERS
Professor Atsuhiko Isobe, Research Institute for Applied Mechanics, Kyushu University
After graduating Ehime University, Professor Isobe had worked at the National Fisheries University as a research associate, Kyushu University as an associate professor, Center for Marine Environmental Studies, Ehime University as a professor, and is currently working in Kyushu University. He is now working as the principal investigator of multiple marine plastic research projects sponsored by the Japanese government. He was awarded the Environment Minister’s prize in 2018, the Prime Minister’s prize in 2019, and the Prize for Science and Technology from the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology in 2020, for his marine plastic pollution research.
Dr. Peter John Kershaw
Peter Kershaw is an independent marine environmental consultant based in the UK. This follows a thirty-year research career, at the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Cefas, UK), working on many aspects of marine environmental protection. His current focus is on marine litter and microplastics, in the context of the 3Rs principle of plastic use and the UN Sustainable Development Goals. This has involved working with many individuals and organisations in the public and private sector, formally and informally, including a number of United Nation agencies, academia and regional bodies, as well as governments within the context of the G7 and G20 marine litter action plans. He is a former Chair of GESAMP, a UN science advisory body, and currently is co-chair of GESAMP Working Group 40 (WG40), ‘Sources, fate and effects of marine litter and microplastics’, a position he has held since the creation of WG40 in 2012. He is a member of the International Expert Group advising the Ministry of Environment of Japan on monitoring microplastics in the ocean.
