Building off the momentum of past conferences, the 7th International Marine Debris Conference (IMDC) is hosted organized by an Executive Committee comprised of the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries of the Republic of Korea (MOF) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), with the organizational support of the Korea Marine Environment Management Corporation (KOEM), and the technical support of U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The conference will bring together a diverse range of actors, from governments to industry, academia, and civil society, to jointly tackle the urgent issue of marine litter and plastic pollution. 

UNEP-DHI will be among them, contributing to the conference with a focus on data harmonization, plastic transport in rivers, and much more related to our on-going work to support the Global Partnership on Marine Litter (GPML): 

Monday 19 Sept, 16:00-17:30 

Technical session-1.11 Interoperable Data and Plastic Pollution Modeling towards National Action Planning- 

• A Freshwater Plastic Pollution Risk and Warning System to Inform National Action Planning 

Monday 19 Sept, 16:00-17:30 

Technical session-3.2 Designing AI digital experiences to address plastic pollution: the role of Plastic Pollution Ontology and of digital transformation 

• User consultations to guide the development of the GPML Digital Platform 

Tuesday 20 Sept, 13:30-15:00 

Technical session-5.11 Science to Policy 

• Freshwater Macroplastic Transport Informed by Global Hydrological Modelling Principles: Successes and Challenges 
• Data harmonization to support the development of national source inventories and guide decision making from local to global levels 

Thursday 22 Sept, 11:00-12:00 

Technical session-1.14 Targeting Debris in Freshwater Ecosystems: Monitoring to Guide Action Planning 

• Monitoring Plastic in Freshwater Ecosystems for National Action Planning 

Speakers: Ms. Lisbet Rhiannon Hansen, Dr. Nicola Balbarini , Dr. Alex Murray 

We look forward to seeing you there! 

Learn more about the conference.