EuroSea is contributing to the UN Ocean Conference 2022 with an official side-event on the Integrated Marine Debris Observing System (IMDOS). The event will take place on 29 June 2022 at the Centre Cultural de Cascais. This event builds on the UN Decade “Clean Ocean” satellite activity on IMDOS that took place in November 2021.

The new event will focus on the need for monitoring marine litter to inform action with the following objectives:

  • Advocate the necessity of a global sustained Integrated Marine Debris Observing System (IMDOS);
  • Promote the building of a global IMDOS community;
  • Encourage the cooperation among scientists and between scientists and stakeholders such as policy makers and mitigation actors.

Expected outcomes include:

  • Presentation of IMDOS as a joint project of UNEP Global Partnership on Marine Litter (GPML) and partner organisations (Global Ocean Observing System, GEO Blue Planet and others tbc) with global coordination established;
  • Proposed IMDOS Terms of Reference and interim Steering Committee;
  • Identification of actions in support of the UNEP GPML Digital Platform and the associated Community of Practice on Marine Litter and Plastic Pollution Data Harmonisation.

Further details are available on the event’s web page.