Context

The Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change signed a letter of Intent establishing the India-Norway Marine Pollution Initiative together with the Norwegian ministry of Foreign Affairs.

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• In January, 2019, the Indian and Norwegian governments agreed to work more closely on oceans by signing a MoU and establishing the India-Norway Ocean Dialogue during the Norwegian Prime Minister’s visit to India in January.
• A joint Task Force on Blue Economy with government officials, researchers and experts as well as private sector was established to develop sustainable solutions within strategic areas of the blue economy, such as maritime and marine sector in addition to energy sector.

Highlights of the Initiative

• In partnership, Norway and India will share experiences and competence, and collaborate on efforts to develop clean and healthy oceans, sustainable use of ocean resources and growth in the blue economy.
• Both the governments launched the first Joint initiative under this new partnership. The India-Norway Marine Pollution Initiative will combat marine pollution, which is one of the fastest growing environmental concerns.
• Through a range of implementing partners, this initiative will seek to support local governments in implementing sustainable waste management practices
• It will help in developing systems for collecting and analyzing information about sources and scope of marine pollution and improve private sector investment.
• Support will also be directed towards beach clean-up efforts, awareness raising campaigns and pilot project using plastic waste as fuel substitution for coal in cement production and developing frameworks for deposit schemes.
  
  

  Other Initiatives for Marine Pollution  Clean Seas Campaign UN Environment launched Clean Seas (#CleanSeas on social media) in February 2017, with the aim of engaging governments, the general public and the private sector in the fight against marine plastic pollution. India joined ‘Clean Seas Campaign’ on World Environment Day 2018.  Beat Plastic Pollution “Beat Plastic Pollution”, the theme for World Environment Day 2018, is a call to action for all of us to come together to combat one of the great environmental challenges of our time. Every year, up to 13 million tons of plastic leak into our oceans, where it smothers coral reefs and threatens vulnerable marine wildlife. The plastic that ends up in the oceans can circle the Earth four times in a single year, and it can persist for up to 1,000 years before it fully disintegrates. India aims at banning single use plastics by 2022.  National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management (NCSCM) It has a vision and mission to aid in the better protection, conservation, rehabilitation, management and policy design of the coast. Recently, India emerged as a world leader with beach clean-up projects across the country.  Consortium for the Conservation of Coastal and Marine Ecosystems It (WIO-C, “the Consortium”) comprises a group of international and regional NGOs in partnership with intergovernmental organizations that have presence and are active in regional marine and coastal ecosystem management in the Western Indian Ocean.