Singapore’s National Action Strategy on Marine Litter was launched on 5th Jun 2022

Singapore’s National Action Strategy on Marine Litter [www.mse.gov.sg/nasml] was launched on 5th Jun 2022 and reported in the media:

• “S’pore launches national strategy to tackle growing problem of marine litter,” by Prisca Ang. The Straits Times, 05 Jun 2022 [link]
• “Singapore launches national strategy aimed at combatting marine litter.” Channel News Asia, 05 Jun 2022 [link]

Comprised of six priority areas, several aspects are ongoing as a clean and green Singapore was fundamental to our national identity since independence. The hope is that this further galvanises action from all sectors of society.

The development of NASML has seen various coastal cleanup groups come together and enter a dialogue with the government’s National Environment Agency. We have had existing functional relationships as we already work with Public Hygiene Council (See the R.I.S.E. network) and now there is a stronger grasp of issues in a holistic manner. It is an encouraging development in the fight again the relentless burden of marine pollution and unsustainable practises.

You can download and read the details of our NASML at  https://www.mse.gov.sg/nasml

“Connect + Collect”, the International Coastal Cleanup 2022 Report

The International Coastal Cleanup’s global coordinator, Ocean Conservancy, released the 2022 report entitled “Connect + Collect”. It reports that despite the covid-19 pandemic, more than 300,000 volunteers took to beaches and waterways around the world and submitted data through the Clean Swell app. 

 

Interestingly, a Singapore user of the Clean Swell app is included the map of global ICC locations this year – hooray to whoever you are! There were  611 volunteers whose data was included for Singapore, and these were submitted direct to the global ICC database managed by Ocean Conservancy, since we adopted the direct reporting method (see the 2021 post: “The change to coastal cleanups during the pandemic (and beyond)”.

The Clean Swell app had improved to allow post-cleanup submissions which made it practical, as data cards could be used onsite and consolidated by a group before a single submission. My remaining wishlist for the app (which I remind the OC team every year about) is metric units please!

Contributing to the database is helpful as its adds up globally and become viable for analysis, especially in the rise of research interest into marine plastics. In just 2021 alone, at least 27 peer-reviewed scientific papers by authors from 20 countries were published which used ICC data. 

Read the 2022 global report here.