Conventions and international environmental cooperation

Researcher Scientist, PhD

The ever-increasing problem of plastic pollution has prompted widespread efforts to combat it through innovative clean-up technologies. These advancements, however, often seen as the silver bullet to solve our plastic crisis, sometimes do more harm than good.

The Norwegian Institute for Water Research (NIVA) has recently been awarded funding to lead a new EU project that will investigate the interaction between all European regulations that affect governance of Europe’s seas and coasts.

OPINION: Near half of the global plastic leakage from land to sea comes from a few countries in Southeast Asia. To overcome the plastic problem, we need to treat the cause and not just the symptoms. We must turn the spotlight on the sources.

ASEANO 2 is a regional capacity building project led by NIVA and the Centre for Southeast Asian Studies Indonesia (CSEAS), in collaboration with the ASEAN Secretariat. The project is under the leadership of the ASEAN sectoral body ASEAN Working Group on Coastal and Marine Environment (AWGCME). ASEANO2 aims to build and enhance capacity and knowledge to measure, evaluate and address plastic pollution from key terrestrial sources in the ASEAN region through improved understanding of sources, emissions, transport, and fate.

NIVA is leading this comprehensive EU project that will examine the interaction between all European regulations that affect the marine and coastal environment.

The programme collects monitoring data from approximately 20 countries in Europe and North America to monitor and investigate the extent to which air pollution affects lakes and rivers, particularly regarding acidification, heavy metals and pollutants.

NIVA's Section for International Environment and Development works with solutions to complex environmental problems, locally, nationally, and globally. We work interdisciplinary, qualitatively, and quantitatively and connect social science and natural science methods to create holistic analyses and solution proposals. 

The Water and Society section engages in research on the interactions between people and nature, and how different values and knowledge can be better integrated in environmental policy, regulation and management. Understanding these interactions is essential for relevant, inclusive and holistic water and environmental governance.