Conclusions of the International Conference on Prevention and Management of Marine Litter in European Seas, held in Berlin, Germany, 10 – 12 April 2013
The Conference participants (among them PERSEUS), which included a wide array of stakeholders, government representatives, businesses and regional organisations, analysed the issues at stake, reviewed current efforts and suggested ways forward in order to address marine litter.

Problem statement
In particular, the conference participants:

• recognised the issue's global extend, the harmful effects in all environmental aspects, the increasing effect on human health;
• considered the costs emerging from the loss of some ecosystem services especially for sectors such as tourism;
• recognised that different materials, mostly plastics which are highly persistent,stems from land and sea based sources; 
• underlined with particular concern the problem of micro-plastics, which may contaminate the food chain;
• recognised the need to better understand regional specificities as well as the sources, amounts, pathways, distribution trends, nature and impacts of marine litter, including microplastics.

The participants after having recognised and welcomed the many efforts currently on-going at all levels and by a wide range of actors, to address marine litter among them many different stakeholders such as environmental NGOs, local governments and communities, the private sector, consumer organizations and research institutes, focused on next steps by setting key principles and priority actions.


Key principles
The conference participants emphasised that a number of key principles should guide action to address marine litter, in particular:

• the precautionary principle, that measures must not be postponed in the light of scientific uncertainties, because there is already sufficient knowledge available to develop priorities, target actions and implement solutions,
• the polluter-pays principle, the principle according to which those causing pollution should bear the cost to which it gives rise,
• the prevention at source principle, as avoiding waste and preventing waste from entering the (aquatic) environment is more cost-effective and efficient than cleaning up marine litter.

Priority actions
Finally, participants considered taking a number of priority actions contributing to the Rio +20 target, to regional action, to national measures, and to the EU quantitative reduction target under development, noting these would also constitute stepping stones towards achieving the goal of reaching Good Environmental Status for Europe's regional seas.
In general the main priority actions emphasised in:

• Fully implementing all relevant EU legislation.
• Promoting the green economy.
• Improving our scientific understanding of the sources, amounts, pathways, distribution, trends, nature and impacts of marine litter, including the effects of micro-plastics and their additives and absorbed substances, on marine biodiversity and public health and identifying ways to better coordinate and improve marine litter data collection, including with a view to establish an EU baseline.
• Developing ambitious targets to reduce marine litter at all relevant levels, giving priority to sources of marine litter with the strongest impact, such as for example microbeads or plastic bags.
• Contributing to raising awareness on marine litter at all levels and facilitating initiatives preventing waste from entering the (aquatic) environment.
• Initiating and further developing Regional Action Plans on marine litter for the regional seas of Europe.
• Collaborating with global, regional and sub-regional organisations, to address the transboundary aspects of marine litter and enhance the effectiveness of multilateral initiatives aimed at preventing, reducing and managing marine litter.
• Encouraging financial support for actions (including environmentally friendly cleaning actions) that contribute to the reduction of marine litter and its impact on the environment.
• Sharing expertise to prevent, reduce and manage marine litter.
• Participating in networks of stakeholders committed to take action to prevent, reduce and manage marine litter in Europe’s four regional seas in an environmentally sustainable manner. (Article's Source)