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Abstract

Marine plastic litter represents a transboundary and oceanic health concern that has emerged as a collective responsibility of all countries. Consequently, all countries, including regional member states, must collaborate to assume an active role in developing solutions to this challenge. Regional agreements play a pivotal role in facilitating the implementation of policies and initiatives. However, there is currently no comprehensive global treaty in place to address the issue of marine litter and plastic pollution. With regard to the European Union, the European Commission has adopted a legislative framework with the objective of reducing the pollution of the marine environment caused by plastic. Furthermore, ASEAN Member States have expressed concern regarding marine plastic pollution and have continued to enhance their comprehension of the pertinent issues. Nevertheless, the current legal instruments employed to combat plastic waste in the Southeast Asia region are not legally binding. This paper therefore focuses on exploring the ASEAN approach to marine plastic debris based on ASEAN legislative and policy documents. Regional policies tend to adopt a holistic approach to the problem, focusing on the causal stages of the plastic waste emergency. However, binding regional policies in the EU are more targeted. This paper compares the strategies adopted by ASEAN and the policies adopted by the EU to address marine plastic debris. Therefore, every chairman of ASEAN must be a consistent advocate for the resolution of the marine plastic debris problem in Southeast Asia.

References

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