Closing the Loop

ESCAP is the regional development arm of the United Nations for the Asia-Pacific region formed of 53 Member States and 9 Associate Members. The Sustainable Urban Development Section (SUDS) is committed to a resilient and inclusive Asia and the Pacific founded on shared prosperity, social equity and sustainability.

The Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES) is a collaborative research and outreach organisation working to accelerate the transition to a sustainable, resilient, shared, and inclusive Asia-Pacific region, both across borders and within the world at large. IGES are the implementing partners for the Closing the Loop initiative, working closely with ESCAP, the local city teams and project advisory partners to deliver baselining, action planning processes and local government strategies to combat marine plastic pollution.

ISWA is a global, independent non-profit association working to promote and develop sustainable and professional waste management. The Marine Litter Task Force, established in 2017 is a multi-partner initiative with the goal of reducing marine litter through prevention of littering and dumping, promotion of efficient resource management and implementation of sound municipal waste collection and disposal measures.

Dr. Costas Velis, Marine Litter Task Force Leader
Dr. Josh Cottom, Research Fellow in Plastics Pollution, University of Leeds

Japan Space Systems functions as an industry representative group consisting of member companies mainly from the Japanese space sector. One of their capacities is the monitoring of environmental factors through use of satellite technology and state of the art technology and methodologies for data capture. JSS have come on board the Closing the Loop project to build the digital tool that will be used by cities to measure plastic waste leakage.

Surabaya is the second largest city in Indonesia. It is the provincial capital of East Java and a regional centre for development, trade and culture. Surabaya municipality has a population of 3.15m with over 10m living in the wider metropolitan area of Gerbangkertosusila.

Da Nang City is the transport, education and commercial hub of central Viet Nam. Da Nang is reliant on its large tourism, information technology and manufacturing sectors which are combined with a young and growing work force. At present, it is the 5th largest city in Viet Nam with a population of approximately 1.1 million.

Kuala Lumpur is the capital and largest city in Malaysia. Kuala Lumpur’s main economic outputs include: tourism, finance, electronics manufacturing and construction. Kuala Lumpur is home to 1.84m people, with 7.8m living in the greater urban conurbation.