Marine Litter Prevention Conference and 2023 PROMISE Sustainability Awards
Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, May 31, 2023: Prevention of Marine Litter Conference and 2023 PROMISE Sustainability Awards was organized as part of the PROMISE project (Prevention of Marine Litter in the Lakshadweep Sea) on Tuesday. The project is coordinated by Maldives National University (Maldives) and The Energy and Resources Institute (India) along with Parley Maldives (Maldives), National Cleaner Production Centre (Sri Lanka), STENUM Asia (India) and adelphi Research (Germany).
The key focus of the conference was sharing of best practices in tackling marine litter across countries of the Maldives, Sri Lanka and India, covering the topics of preventing leakages in the plastic value chain by promoting sustainable consumption and production practices, implementation of Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) framework for plastic packaging, promoting circular economy models on plastic packaging. The 2023 PROMISE Sustainability Awards recognised the initiatives taken by enterprises in tourism industry to minimize waste at their premises.
The conference consisted of keynote speeches from Dr A M Sheela, Member Secretary, Kerala Pollution Control Board, India; Mr Sunil Garusingai, Director, Central Environmental Authority, Sri Lanka; and Mr Ali Majid, Deputy Minister, Ministry of Environment, Climate Change and Technology, Maldives who emphasised the imperative need of taking steps across the stakeholders towards prevention of marine litter.
There were presentations on activities and achievements of PROMISE project and other related projects. The projects covered included Circular Economy Solutions Preventing Marine Litter in Ecosystems (CES), presented by Mr J M Vivek from GIZ; PLASTICS (Promoting Long-term Approaches for a Sustainable, Transformative and Inclusive Circular Economy in Sri Lanka), presented by Mr Sayanthan Santhalingam from ACTED Sri Lanka and EPR Scheme for plastic and packaging wastes in the Maldives, presented by Mr Ahmed Afrah Ismail, Co-founder of Zero Waste Maldives.
In the first panel discussion on EPR framework for tackling marine litter which highlighted the EPR framework for plastics and its implementation aspects especially with regard to the MSME sector. The panel was moderated by Dr Suneel Pandey, Director, The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) and joined by other eminent experts of waste management including Dr A M Sheela, Mr Ali Majid, Mr Sunil Garusingai, Mr Shibu Nair (Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives, India), Mr Jyotish Kumar (Suchitwa Mission, Kerala, India), Mr J Sunil (Kerala Plastics Manufacturers' Association, India) and Mr Chetan Baregar (Recykal, India).
The second panel discussion held on Boosting tourism through promotion of clean beaches, and it discussed how schemes like ‘Blue flag’ certification has helped tourism growth in South Asian region through eco-tourism. The panel was moderated by Mr Amarnath Munnolimath, Senior Manager, adelphi, Germany; with other panelists including Mr Rupesh Kumar, Department of Tourism, Government of Kerala, India; Dr T R Vinod, Centre for Environment and Development, India; Dr Abdulla Nazeer, Maldives National University, Madives; Mr Hamdun Hameed, Parley Maldives, Maldives; Mr Ruwan Chamara Wijemanne, National Cleaner Production Centre, Sri Lanka; and Mr Rajat Batra, STENUM Asia, India.
The PROMISE Sustainability Awards were felicitated to two enterprises each from the Maldives, Sri Lanka and India. The winners include Luau Beach Inn, Maldives - V. Fulidhoo and Jeym Lodge - AA.Thoddoo from Maldives; Convenience Foods (Lanka) PLC and Citrus Hotel, Waskaduwa from Sri Lanka; Crowne Plaza – Kochi and Biriyani Hut – Kottayam from India.
The conference attended by participants from governmental bodies, development organisations, NGOs, private sector including tourism enterprises, and academic institutions involved in the areas of marine litter prevention and waste management.
About the project
The PROMISE project (Prevention of Marine Litter in the Lakshadweep Sea) is supported by the European Union (EU) under the SWITCH Asia Programme. The activities under the project target tourism clusters located along the Lakshadweep shorelines in the Maldives, Sri Lanka and India and develop solutions to prevent leakage of wastes from land-based sources into the Lakshadweep Sea in line with Sustainable Consumption and Production (SCP) approach.