Incentives to Solve Public/Worldwide Challenges

Country-wide Plans to Address Plastic Waste

• The Indonesian government plans to grant incentives to local governments that will achieve success in preventing and reducing plastic pollution.
•  Germany will set aside financial incentives to get more businesses to produce environmentally-sustainable product designs.

Union of Countries' Incentives

• The European Union plans to grant financial incentives for ships and other sea vessels to bring in more waste to the shore under the " Port reception facilities directive."
• The European Union committed to 23 new initiatives during the 5th edition of the "Our Ocean" convention.
• The commission has stated that it has earmarked €300 million to fund these projects.
• The projects aim to address plastic pollution and enable the sustainability of the blue economy.
• The projects will also enable the development of research and marine surveillance works.
• This funding follows the €550 million amount that was already allocated by the European Union in the previous ocean convention.
• Around €100 million of this amount will be dedicated to research and development (R&D) endeavors to look into the solutions that can reduce plastics in the ocean.
• Approximately €82 million will be used to fund marine and maritime research.
• This research initiative will include "ecosystem assessments, seafloor mapping, and innovative aquaculture systems."
• The funding will also allot €18.4 million to promote sustainability among the various economic segments that depend on the ocean.
• The EU also has its "showpiece Earth observation programme Copernicus."
• The initiative will be further bolstered with an additional €12.9 million funding to secure the ocean's resources and to fund research work on coastal environment solutions.
• The commission also allotted €27 million Copernicus funds to the "Our Ocean 2017 conference."
• The commission is also collaborating with the United Nations Environment Programme and other partner countries to deploy a "coalition of aquariums" against plastics in the ocean.
• The EU aims to grant €9 million to address marine pollution in the South East Asian countries such as in China, Indonesia, Japan, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.
• A separate €7 million will be set aside to fund projects to protect the marine resources in the region.

United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Incentive to Combat Ocean Pollution

• The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) plans to deploy fiscal incentives to reduce ocean pollution levels, fortify regulations against pollution, and campaign for "sustainable lifestyles based on a circular economy."
• In one of its global assembly, various countries such as Chile, Oman, Sri Lanka and South Africa became part of its "Clean Seas" endeavor.
•  Sri Lanka has now declared that it would implement a ban on single-use plastic items and increase its recycling efforts.
• The Clean Seas project also pushes businesses and people to commit to reducing plastic pollution by implementing concrete action such as recycling plastic containers, opting for items with minimal packaging, and using their own containers for takeout food.