Regional Litter Project

The Republic of Korea (RoK) expressed its interest in supporting and funding a regional project tackling marine plastic litter from sea-based sources with a focus on countries of Asia.

Utilizing the OceanLitter Programme global platform, knowledge products and training activities as well as building upon the success of the activities such as the development of National Action Plans under the GloLitter Partnerships Project, the Regional Litter project (RegLitter) would allow further implementation of the priorities of specific Asian countries at the national level while further advancing their cooperation at the regional level.

Total Budget

RegLitter will run with a budget of approximately US$ 5.5 million donated by the Republic of Korea.

Geographic Focus

Seven countries are engaged: India, Indonesia, The Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Timor-Leste and Viet Nam.

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Geographical Coverage

30 countries from Asia, Africa, Central and South America as well as the Pacific participate in projects under the OceanLitter Programme.

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Projects
Participating Countries

Expected Outcomes

  • Regional awareness of marine plastic litter from sea-based sources is expanded.
  • Countries undertake legal, policy and institutional reforms.
  • The institutional capacity for Port State Control (PSC) is improved.
  • Public-private partnerships spur the development of cost-effective management solutions of marine plastic litter from sea-based sources.
  • Women are empowered to participate in activities to reduce marine plastic litter from sea-based sources.

Achievements

National Action Plans (NAPs) developed:

  • Under development: will be updated by 2027.

Knowledge products

Global awareness of marine plastic litter from sea-based sources is expanded​ through the updated publication of multiple Knowledge Products.

E-Learning course

IMO, in collaboration with the World Maritime University (WMU), with funding from other projects under the OceanLitter Programme, developed the MARPOL Annex V E-learning course. The self-paced course, consisting of four well-organized modules, is freely available on the IMO E-Learning platform: https://lms.imo.org/moodle310/.

The online course explores key provisions and enforcement to gain insight on implementation and best practices on sustainable garbage management at sea.

Regional Task Force meetings

All regional task force meetings aim to enhance the countries’ capacity to combat plastic pollution from ships and protect the marine environment.

Two Regional Task Force Meetings were held with support of the GloLitter Partnerships Project prior to the creation of the RegLitter Project:

A third Regional Task Force meeting occurred in 2025 co-funded by the GloLitter Partnerships Project and RegLitter.

Project Progress

Please view the Progress Chart for details on what each country is currently addressing.