NewsINBAR joins Global Partnership on Plastic Pollution and Marine Litter
Launched in 2012 at the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20), the Global Partnership on Plastic Pollution and Marine Litter (GPML) unites actors around the world working to prevent marine litter and plastic pollution. The GPML functions as a platform for a wide range of actions, such as knowledge and experience sharing, coordination, identifying gaps and emergent issues, and harnessing the expertise, resources and enthusiasm of all stakeholders working in the fight to safeguard the planet’s marine biomes from the scourge of plastic pollution. The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) provides secretariat services to the GPML.
INBAR is honored to announce that as of 22 February 2023, it is now a full member of the GPML. Given the myriad sustainable applications of bamboo and rattan that contribute to the overall health of the planet’s oceans, as well as our long history of productive collaboration with UNEP, it is a natural alliance between like-minded international bodies who are working together to address issues global in scope.
Shifting to bamboo-based products can help curtail plastic waste in ocean environments.
INBAR has been involved in the fight to reduce plastic waste for some time, advocating for bamboo as a green tool for lowering our dependency on plastics and mitigating the effects of climate change, from raising awareness at COP 25 regarding the potential of bamboo for meeting climate change commitments in developing countries, speaking at the International Plastic Ban Industry Forum about the exciting new possibilities for bamboo use, advocating for the role of bamboo as an alternative to plastics at the 2021 China International Fair for Trade in Services, to promoting bamboo as a green alternative material at COP 27. Moreover, INBAR participates in the the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC), which was was established to develop an international legally binding instrument on plastic, including in the marine environment, making the case for bamboo as a nature-based solution for addressing plastic waste.
These efforts culminated at the Second Global Bamboo and Rattan Congress (BARC 2022) held in Beijing last year. At the Opening Ceremony, INBAR announced the official launch of the Bamboo as a Substitute for Plastic Initiative with the Government of China, which is an important plastic-reducing project aimed at addressing plastic waste and climate change in order to leave the world greener and cleaner for generations to come.
The GPML is a multi-stakeholder partnership that brings together all actors working to prevent marine litter and plastic pollution. INBAR is excited to work across this multi-stakeholder partnership with other key actors to generate meaningful solutions and marshal resources to the transboundary problem of marine plastic pollution, and looks forward to working with UNEP and other stakeholders to safeguard the planet’s oceans.
