Sharing knowledge and expertise from a broad range of stakeholders is a crucial element of implementing a blue-economy approach. In this spirit, the PROBLUE Global Engagement Forum has been established to convene a wide range of stakeholders on blue-economy priority issues - to help build relationships and identify opportunities for collaborative and coordinated interventions in countries.

This inaugural Forum event will be held on Sunday, May 28, 2023 from 1:00pm to 4:30pm on the sidelines of the INC-2 negotiations, with a focus on Abandoned, Lost or otherwise Discarded Fishing Gear (ALDFG) and marine pollution. More details can be found on the second tab (above). Note that pre-registration is a requirement for these events. If you are interested in joining, please reach out to the contact provided on this page.

About PROBLUE
Administered by the World Bank, PROBLUE is a multi-donor trust fund that supports the sustainable and integrated development of marine and coastal resources in healthy oceans.

Abandoned, Lost, or otherwise Discarded Fishing Gear (ALDFG) contributes greatly to the marine plastic-pollution crisis. It has been described as the most harmful form of marine plastic debris, with estimates putting it at representing between 10% and 20% of all the marine litter in the world's ocean. ALDFG is also notable for its cross-cutting intersection of oceanic issues, including fisheries and marine pollution, implicating livelihoods, nutrition, health, biodiversity, economies, and more.

Participants will join the session in Paris on Sunday, May 28, 2023 from 1:00pm to 4:30pm on the sides of INC-2.

The objective of this session is to bring together stakeholders engaged in various stages along the life cycle of fishing gear, to help identify opportunities for collaboration - and discuss how to best capture and address this problem during the INC negotiations. The event will also aim to map the key players and their respective focus areas. The event will include opening remarks, presentation of case studies, and then the session will organize participants into breakout groups in line with the lifecycle stages of fishing gear as presented in Figure 1.

The location and a full agenda will be shared via email with registered participants nearer the date. Please note that these events are for pre-registered participants only. If you are interested in joining, please reach out to the contact provided on this page.

• Anjali Acharya

  Anjali Acharya is leading the World Bank's global marine plastics agenda, while also supporting country programs on marine plastics and circular economy. She also serves as the pillar manager for PROBLUE -a multi-donor trust fund for the blue economy. Anjali brings over 25 years of development experience at the World Bank leading projects and analytical work on climate resilience, watershed management, pollution management, environmental health, biodiversity and environmental policies. Her positions have covered programs in Latin America and East Asia Pacific regions, including field assignments in Vietnam and Singapore. An Indian national, Dr. Acharya holds a Ph.D. degree in International Environmental Health from Johns Hopkins University and a master's degree in Environmental Economics from Duke University.

• Amparo Perez Roda

  Ms. Amparo Perez Roda is a Fishery Officer at the Operations and Technology team of the Fisheries and Aquaculture Division of FAO. Prior to that, she coordinated the Glo Litter Partnerships project at FAO. She has extensive work experience in food loss reduction in marine capture fisheries, fishing gear management, and plastic marine litter prevention and reduction from fishing operations, in particular, ALDFG. She is Licensed in Biology by Universidad de Valencia, and she holds a Master's in Biodiversity and Ecosystem Functioning and Management at the Universidad del Pais Vasco.

• Janaka Da Silva

  Dr. Janaka de Silva, Senior Programme Coordinator, Ocean Team, Centre for Conservation Action, IUCN specializes in Marine and Coastal issues. His experience includes working in the Government, Academic and Non-Profit sectors and has included, designing, implementing and managing ecosystem based programs that integrate forests, watersheds and marine systems, providing advice on species management to governing bodies and developing and implementing results based monitoring at program and project level scales. He currently manages IUCN`s Global Plastic Portfolio "Closing the Plastic Tap" that is being implemented in 11+ countries that advances knowledge and takes action to address the impact of plastic waste and leakage on the marine environment. Janaka also supports the Ocean Teams programme of work on Ocean Multistressors and Sustainable Blue Economy.

• Heidi Savelli-Soderberg

  Heidi has led marine litter and plastic pollution related activities within the Marine and Freshwater Branch of the United Nations Environment Programme since 2009. She has worked with coastal and marine management including prevention of land-based sources of pollution for 20 years. She trained as an ecotoxicologist with an MSc from Lund University, Sweden.

• Henrique Silva Pacini

  Henrique is an economist at UNCTAD in Geneva, working on trade and circular economy themes. He is a member of the leadership team for the Sustainable Manufacturing and Environmental Pollution (SMEP) program, a GBP 25 million initiative established by UK Aid focusing on pollution prevention in manufacturing sectors of Africa and Asia, including plastics. Pacini holds a degree in economics from the University of São Paulo, a M.A. in European Studies from Hochschule Bremen, and a Ph.D. in Energy Technology from KTH in Sweden. He recently completed a post-doctoral fellowship at Harvard University examining global trade networks of plastic scrap material. Mr. Pacini also co-chaired their first Circular Economy Symposium at Harvard. He has published over 30 articles on environment, trade, and development and has worked for various private and public institutions.

• Hannah Pragnell-Raasch

  Hannah is a Project Specialist at the Global Ghost Gear Initiative. Based on the Central Coast in Australia, she holds a BSc with Honours in Marine Biology and MSc with Distinction in Biodiversity Conservation and brings with her over 10 years of experience working in the marine conservation field. Prior to her role, Hannah spent 8 years with PADI AWARE Foundation (formerly Project AWARE), leading their global Clean Ocean Strategy. As an avid scuba diver and surfer, she has been lucky to have experienced the beauty of our marine world and, in turn, has also seen first-hand the impact that ALDFG causes to the underwater world as well as the challenges associated with removing ghost gear from the ocean.