The African Marine Waste Network (AMWN) focuses on preventing marine pollution in Africa at its source, on land. It does this by building networks between government, industry and civil society, and fostering enterprise development; it’s an active platform for collaboration, and resource- and knowledge-sharing within countries and across borders in Africa. Our mandate is to serve the coastal and island states of Africa by developing an active consortium of people and organisations working together within countries and across borders to help the people of Africa develop and implement better waste-management strategies. The aim of this initiative is to mobilise resources that will enable stakeholders across the continent to work together to implement best practices in: (1) tackling issues of poverty, awareness, education and capacity; (2) reducing accumulation of waste from vessels and other marine-based sources; (3) reducing all forms of debris and waste on land in order to prevent leakage into marine environments; (4) cleaning plastic and other waste from African coasts, seas, and estuaries; (5) using recycling, incentive schemes and other activities to harness the circular economy; and (6) providing assistance to coastal municipalities and where applicable their harbours where waste management is a growing problem. To this end, a strategy plan (https://sst.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Marine-Waste-Strategy-Guide-to-Action-for-Africa.pdf) has been created for tackling Africa’s marine waste issues.
