Baseline Assessment of Plastic Debris Flowing into Rivers and Seas of South Asia

Mismanaged plastic waste has created a mounting pollution crisis which is eroding ecological systems in rivers and oceans.

The regional “Plastics Free Rivers and Seas for South Asia” project funded by the World Bank to support the South Asia Cooperative Environment Programme (SACEP), which started in 2020, recognises that action and solutions across countries are required to build a more harmonised regional monitoring, management, and policy framework for plastic waste reduction.

This in turn will enable an increased circular economy model for plastics in the South Asia Region (Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Pakistan, Nepal, and Sri Lanka).

What we are doing

Together with our partners Seureca, we were contracted to undertake consultancy services to take stock of baseline information for plastic waste leakage into rivers and assess the current information base and operating framework for tackling the plastic waste problem across the region.

We documented the status of plastic pollution along the value chain from production to end disposal, undertaking material flow analysis and mapping hotspots using the UNEP-IUCN tool as part of the ‘National Guidance for Marine Plastic Hotspotting and Shaping Actions’.

In addition, we mapped relevant stakeholders, initiatives, and carried out policy reviews and regulatory gap analysis to support recommendations for SACEP and the World Bank.