National Marine Litter Management Action Plan 2021-2030.

This Action Plan is an enabler towards the achievement of the national strategies goals and sectorial policies targeting the environment and natural resources, and thus it reflects the Kenyan government’s commitment to lay a roadmap for addressing the marine litter problem in the country’s marine and coastal environment. This Action Plan, covering the 2021-2030 decade, addresses the implementation of the national Strategy for the general management of solid waste, by preventing and reducing litter at the source, improving litter monitoring, enhancing awareness and information sharing on the marine litter management. This Action Plan, considering marine litter as a priority pollution source category requiring urgent action, contains a set of actions requiring the collective involvement of various stakeholders and allows them to identify measures to further combat marine pollution. The development of this Action Plan is guided by eight principles including: precautionary principle, the polluter pays principle, integration, the prevention principle, the ecosystem approach, public participation and stakeholder involvement, sustainable consumption and production and the best available knowledge and socioeconomic effectiveness.
The Action Plan is structured as follows: definition of objectives, justification of the action plan and presentation of the plan’s conceptual framework; general overview of marine litter, types, categories, sources, pathways and impacts, with a focus on a comprehensive review of solid waste management in Kenya and on the main challenges experienced in the management of waste from land and sea-based sources. The Action Plan proposes actions and measures aimed at promoting waste prevention, reduction, sustainable management and circular economy, through a categorisation into 4 thematic areas: A) prevention and reduction of litter from land-based sources, B) prevention and reduction of litter from sea-based sources, C) prevention and reduction of transboundary waste and D) activities to support the implementation of the plan. The actions are further divided into several strategic objectives: promoting prevention and reduction of litter from land-based sources; promoting sustainable waste management from land-based sources; increasing effective wastewater treatment and storm water management; encouraging circular economy in solid waste management; reducing litter from sea-based sources, and increasing sustainable waste management of litter from sea-based sources; strengthening prevention and reduction of transboundary waste; strengthening the engagement of stakeholders in marine litter management, through improved research and monitoring programmes and data and information sharing.