Increase Marine Protected Areas by 20% by 2030... Reduce Plastic Waste to Less Than Half

Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries, 5th Comprehensive Marine Environment Plan (2021~2030)

'Expanding Public Participation and Strengthening Future Prospects' Focused 5th Comprehensive Plan Established
Marine Plastic Waste 118,000 tons in 2018 → 59,000 tons in 2030
Port Fine Dust Emissions 7,958 tons in 2017 → 1,266 tons in 2030
Active Promotion of Future New Growth Engine 'Marine Bioindustry'

(Photo) [Image source=Yonhap News]

[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Joo Sang-don] The Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries announced on the 4th the establishment of the '5th Comprehensive Marine Environment Plan (2021?2030)' containing the future vision and implementation strategies for the marine environment over the next decade. The core of the plan is to drastically reduce marine microplastic waste and port fine dust, strengthen management of the marine environment and ecosystems, and actively foster the marine bioindustry as a future new growth engine.

The comprehensive marine environment plan is the highest-level statutory plan in the field of 'marine environment conservation and utilization,' established every ten years. From 2011 to 2020, through the '4th Comprehensive Plan,' efforts were focused on laying the institutional foundation for marine environment policy promotion, including the enactment of the 'Marine Environment Conservation and Utilization Act' in 2017, which serves as the basic law for marine environment policy.

This 5th plan places emphasis on expanding public participation in the planning process compared to previous plans and strengthening future outlook analysis to establish marine environment policies based on future predictions. To this end, various communication channels were created, including nationwide online public opinion collection from June to July last year, regional expert advisory groups, and online and offline public hearings, actively gathering public opinions on marine waste management and marine environment education and reflecting them in the plan.

Additionally, the plan utilized the STEEP (Social, Technological, Economic, Environmental, Political) technique to foresee significant future changes in five fields and detect emerging issues in the marine environment sector to inform policy formulation. Through this, directions for the plan were derived, including 'smart management of the marine environment' using 4th Industrial Revolution technologies, activation of governance based on citizen participation, and responses to new risk factors arising from climate change and technological development.

An official from the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries stated, "The next ten years are especially critical for promptly responding to new environmental issues such as port fine dust and microplastics and achieving tangible improvements to meet public expectations for marine environment enhancement. Also, systematic responses to climate change, including carbon neutrality, which has become a global core issue recently, are required."

Accordingly, based on these prospects, the Ministry incorporated the vision of "a sea where people and nature coexist healthily" and the policy goals of "conservation," "utilization," and "growth" into the 5th Comprehensive Marine Environment Plan. The policy goals will be achieved through six major strategies and detailed tasks: ▲ a clean sea with maintained water quality ▲ a sea with a healthy ecosystem ▲ a sea where pleasant marine life is enjoyed ▲ a sea where eco-friendly economic activities take place ▲ a sea where green marine industries flourish ▲ a sea that responds to climate change and is systematically planned.

First, to enhance the value of the ocean through conservation, the Ministry plans to strengthen management of the marine environment and ecosystems. It will establish a real-time marine water quality monitoring system using information and communication technology and artificial intelligence and promote the establishment of comprehensive marine environment plans at the local government level to expand public participation. Furthermore, five core 'marine ecological corridors' will be designated: the West Sea Coastal Wetland Corridor, Seal-Dall’s Porpoise Conservation Corridor, Island Marine Ecology Conservation Corridor, East Coast Marine Ecology Conservation Corridor, and Climate Change Observation Corridor, with detailed management plans prepared for each corridor. The Ministry will continue to expand marine protected areas and tidal flat restoration and promote the establishment of marine species restoration centers. Through these efforts, the Ministry expects the proportion of first-class sea areas, which was about 54% in 2019, to increase to 73% by 2030, and the area of marine protected zones to expand significantly by 20% compared to 2020 (9.2% of the territorial sea area).

To enable the public to enjoy a pleasant marine environment and increase its use, the Ministry will strengthen management of marine waste closely related to daily life. Monitoring, previously applied only to coastal waste, will be expanded to include floating waste, microplastics, and submerged waste, and measures such as introducing a fishing gear deposit system will be implemented to prevent marine waste generation. Collection efforts will be increased by expanding the number of sea environment guardians, and cooperation management with the public and businesses will be strengthened through the establishment of an inter-ministerial marine waste committee and the introduction of a "returning beach" system.

Moreover, to activate eco-friendly marine use by the public, the Ministry will actively promote marine eco-tourism, including creating a marine garden in Garorim Bay, and expand educational opportunities by establishing an online platform for marine environment education. Simultaneously, the Ministry will manage port air pollutants actively by developing low-carbon and zero-carbon future ship technologies, expanding the supply of eco-friendly ships, and developing and applying big data-based real-time port air pollutant analysis and prediction technologies at major ports. Through these efforts, the Ministry aims to reduce marine plastic waste from 118,000 tons in 2018 to 59,000 tons in 2030, a 50% reduction, and cut port fine dust emissions drastically from 7,958 tons in 2017 to 1,266 tons in 2030.

The Ministry will also actively create a growth foundation for sustainable eco-friendly marine economic activities. It will vigorously foster the marine bioindustry as a future new growth engine by expanding research to address current issues such as infectious disease prevention and alternative fuel development. Additionally, regional marine bio-innovation hubs will be established to focus support on commercialization and growth of small marine bio companies. To strengthen scientific response capabilities to marine climate change, an integrated observation network capable of simultaneously monitoring variables related to marine climate change will be built, and the establishment of a dedicated organization for marine climate change response will be pursued.

Minister Moon Sung-hyuk of the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries said, "Given the high public interest in the marine environment, the plan was formulated with a focus on enhancing the value of the ocean and enabling the public to enjoy the sea comfortably. Over the next ten years, we will do our best to faithfully implement this comprehensive plan through the participation and cooperation of related agencies, local governments, and the public."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.