Marine Litter and Plastic Pollution Problem: “PLASTIC PARADISE”

The “Committing to Sustainable Waste Actions in the Pacific” referred to hereafter as SWAP project aims to improve sanitation, environmental, social, and economic conditions in Pacific Island countries and territories through proper waste management.To achieve this, the overall work focuses on three streams of wastes: used oil, marine debris, disaster wastes and an overarching issue on sustainable financing mechanisms.Six countries and territories benefit from this overall project which include Fiji, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Vanuatu, and Wallis and Futuna. Marine litter is one of the main issues that the SWAP project tries to address as Pacific islands are particularly vulnerable to the impacts of marine debris, due to the particular value and sensitivity of their coastal environments. A report by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation has revealed that there are now over 150 million tonnes of plastics in the oceans. That's about one tonne of plastics for every three tonnes of fish. If the trend continues, plastics will outweigh fish in the oceans by 2050.As behaviour change is a priority in order to address this problem of marine litter in a sustainable way, the SWAP project has produced a video to raise awareness of the problem of marine litter: ‘PLASTIC PARADISE’. This video is available in English and French as well as Fijian, Samoan, Pidgin, Tongan and Bislama.This video is the intellectual property of the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP), and therefore may be used for educational or non-profit services without special permission from the copyright holder, provided acknowledgement of the source is made. SPREP would appreciate receiving information on the use of the video: audience, purpose, etc. by completing this ‘SPREP/SWAP Marine Litter Awareness Video Use Request Form’. No use of this video may be made for resale or any other commercial purpose whatsoever without prior permission in writing from the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme.