Nine Projects Combating Marine Pollution Selected as UNDP Ocean Innovators

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) today announced the nine winners of the 2020 Ocean Innovation Challenge (OIC). OIC is a unique mechanism launched by UNDP, with support from Sweden and Norway, in January 2020 to accelerate progress on the Ocean SDG 14 by identifying, financing, and mentoring innovative approaches to ocean and coastal restoration and protection that sustain livelihoods and advance the “blue economy.”

The nine winning innovations cover a diverse range of technical, policy and regulatory approaches to reducing marine pollution such as using benign organic substitutes for plastics products, introduction of extended producer responsibility regulations to reduce plastics pollution, and sustainably harvested seaweed as a substitute for synthetic fertilizer.

The Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions at Duke University was selected to expand its Plastics Pollution Policy Inventory. Launched in 2020, the inventory currently includes more than 300 downloadable policies, providing decision makers at all levels a tool to identify and replicate best practices for reducing plastic pollution in the world's oceans.