Promotion of community resilience against plastic pollution and climate change in the Mekong River Basin

Under the theme of “Plastic-Free Rivers: Stakeholders’ Capacity Building to Promote Community Resilience against Plastic Pollution and Climate Change”, the final stakeholder workshop of the Mekong Project will be held in a hybrid format on 7-9 March 2023.

The delegates and experts will discuss increasing scientific knowledge, means, and tools for increasing outreach and awareness, and share the solutions for advancing policy, technology, and behaviour changes leading to plastic-free rivers.

In-depth discussions on the following outcomes and outputs of the project will seek recommendations on the scaling-up of the capacity building for plastic-free rivers in the region:

• Increased investment and uptake of plastic pollution prevention measures by national and local governments, CSOs, and financial institutions in the Mekong River/Basin through international cooperation and stakeholder engagement
• Increase in the investment in new technologies at the community level to mitigate the impact of climate change and plastic pollution demonstrated in selected Mekong riverine communities in Thailand and Vietnam; and engagement of business entities for scaling up technologies and good practices.
• Establishing a network of regional experts, stakeholders, and representatives of Mekong riverine communities to accelerate the implementation of the protocols for Riverine Microplastic and Macroplastic Monitoring in the Mekong River/Basin and to assess and map the impact of climate change and plastic pollution during the COVID-19 Pandemic on livelihoods of selected riverine communities in Thailand and Vietnam to inform decisions.
• Prioritizing capacity building plans including mapping the impact of climate change and plastic pollution on the riverine communities along the Lower Mekong and having access to national source inventories on marine litter and micro-plastic management.
• Effectiveness of new technologies and good practices to mitigate the impact of climate change and plastic pollution demonstrated in Mekong riverine communities in Thailand and Vietnam, documented and made available for replication; and
• Riverine communities’ increased awareness and training on the new technologies and good practices for plastic waste reduction in rivers to mitigate the impact of climate change; community-based implementation of the plans to align/adjust the new technologies and good practices for improved monitoring and management of mismanaged plastics; and lessons learned, and best practices for scaling-up replication.