FNI expert to advise UN on combatting marine plastic pollution
The United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) has selected Research Professor Davor Vidas, director of FNI's Law of the Sea Programme, to join the Advisory Group for the UN Environment Assembly on combatting marine pollution by plastic litter and microplastics.
Vidas was selected upon nomination by the International Law Association (ILA) in London.
The task of the Advisory Group, comprised of 30 experts drawn from the five UN regions and all invited in their personal capacity, will be to assist UNEP in undertaking an assessment of the effectiveness of relevant international, regional and sub-regional governance strategies to combat marine plastic litter and microplastics, and to identify gaps in regulatory frameworks and options for addressing them.
Ready in 2017
The Assessment shall be made available to UN Member States for possible decisions at the third session of the UN Environment Assembly (UNEA-3), in December 2017.
How to more effectively regulate pollution of oceans and marine areas by plastic litter and microplastics is an issue-area of increasing importance in FNI's research agenda on the law of the sea and marine affairs, says Vidas.
Vidas has over 30 years of professional experience in International Law. He is chair of the ILA Committee on International Law & Sea Level Rise, a member of the Anthropocene Working Group of the International Commission on Stratigraphy, a member of the International Advisory Board of the Law of the Sea Institute at the University of California, Berkeley, and also holds numerous other academic positions.