Page - 243 - in Freshwater Microplastics - Emerging Environmental Contaminants?

2.1 International-Level Instruments and Initiatives International regulation, namely, conventions, agreements, regulations, strategies, action plans, programs, and guidelines, is transposed into regional or national instruments. This is usually done through regional agreements or national legisla- tions so that similar texts can also be found in the instruments at the regional or national level. International instruments apply to the signatory countries and include different geographical regionsworldwide. UnitedNations (UN) Basedon theMillenniumDevelopmentGoals, theUNGeneralAssembly adopted the resolution no. A /RES/70/1 “TransformingOurWorld: The 2030Agenda for SustainableDevelopment” on25September 2015 [9].Within this agenda, 17 sus- tainable development goals with 169 associated targets are announced. Goal 12“Ensure sustainable consumptionandproductionpatterns” includes the follow- ing target 12.4: “By 2020, achieve the environmentally sound management of chemicals and all wastes throughout their life cycle, in accordance with agreed international frameworks, and significantly reduce their release to air, water and soil in order tominimize their adverse impacts on human health and the environ- ment” [9, p. 22]. Furthermore, thewaste generation shall be substantially reduced by2030throughprevention, reduction, recycling,andreuse(target12.5).Although these targets refer to“allwastes”ingeneral, theyalsocoverplasticwastes.Thenew goals and targets addressed in the agendahavecome into effect on1 January2016 andwillguide thedecisionsof thememberstatesover thenext15years.Therefore, the General Assembly “encourages all member states to develop as soon as practicable ambitious national responses to the overall implementation of this Agenda. These can support the transition to the Sustainable Development Goals and build on existing planning instruments, such as national development and sustainable development strategies, as appropriate” [9, p. 33]. TheGroupof 7 (G7) TheGroup of 7 (G7) consists of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, theUK, and theUSA.Asenvironmental issuesplayanimportant rolealongsideeconomics, foreign policy, and security, topics discussed at G7 summits include climate change, sustainable development, resource efficiency, marine pollution, and nuclear safety. In 2015, the G7 discussed options to address plastic pollution in marine environments and “acknowledge that marine litter, in particular plastic litter, poses a global challenge, directly affecting marine and coastal life and ecosystems and potentially also humanhealth” [10, p. 17].Among others, theG7 countriesareawareof theneedforworldwidemovement totacklemarinepollution. Therefore, they are developing an action plan to combatmarine litter, which pro- vides, inter alia, that practicalmeasures to reducewaste from land- and sea-based sources will be implemented. At this point, it becomes apparent that although marine ecosystems are in the center of interest, freshwater systems cannot be neglected. This is also reflected in the G7 action plan to combat marine litter, FreshwaterMicroplastics:Challenges forRegulation andManagement 243