3 Asian Nations to Work Together on Marine Garbage

June 24, 2018

Suzhou, China- The environment ministers of Japan, China and South Korea agreed at a meeting on Sunday to take leadership roles in tackling the issue of microplastics and other marine garbage.

At the meeting in Suzhou, Jiangsu Province, eastern China, Japan gained the agreement of China and South Korea to take up the issue of marine garbage as a main agenda item at the Group of 20 environment ministers' meeting to be held in the town of Karuizawa, Nagano Prefecture, central Japan, next year, according to Japanese government officials.

Waste plastics account for the greater part of marine garbage, causing serious contamination globally.

At a news conference after Sunday's meeting, Japanese Environment Minister Masaharu Nakagawa said the marine garbage issue is an urgent challenge on an international scale. It is important for the three Asian nations to work together to seek a solution in order to protect the marine environment not only in Asia but also in the world, Nakagawa said.

According to the Japanese officials, the three countries also agreed to create a framework for continuing information exchanges on measures against alien species.

The agreement was reached after venomous fire ants of South American origin were found in Osaka port, western Japan, recently.

The three-way environment ministers' meeting has been held every year since 1999. The three nations host the annual meeting in turns and Japan is scheduled to be the next host. Jiji Press