Source-to-Sea Practitioners Guide

Step 2 | Engage
CASE STUDY | MARINE LITTER
Engaging stakeholders for
marine litter prevention
Given the nature of the marine litter problem, i.e. that plastic
found in oceans to a large extent arises from activities on land
and is transported by waterways, source-to-sea management
can play a key role in addressing this issue and can engage
stakeholders at local, national and global levels.
Designing a course of action for preventing
marine litter and its impacts requires a thorough
understanding of the full set of stakeholders across
three scales – local, regional and global – and
their interests and motivations for contributing to
reducing plastic leakage. In the case of plastic
leakage from land-based sources, the following
categories of stakeholders will need to be engaged.
Primary stakeholders who are negatively
impacted by plastic leakage and will benefit from
intervention strategies preventing it.
Targeted stakeholders whose practices are contributing
to the amount of plastic leakage to riverine
and marine environments and whose behaviour
change is directly targeted. Enabling stakeholders
that provide the conditions for behaviour changes
that result in preventing plastic leakage and for
these to be sustained over time.
Supporting stakeholders such as development partners
or financiers whose strategies are aligned with
reduced plastic leakage. External stakeholders such
as individuals or groups outside the system boundary
who share an interest in reduced plastic leakage.
Coordi nation between stakeholders from source
to sea can support prioritization of investment
and implementation of intervention strategies,
directing resources to solving issues at the local,
regional and national scales where funding,
capacity and infrastructure is insufficient to the
task of marine litter prevention.
Source: Mathews and Stretz, (in review)
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