Kuala Lumpur, 4 July 2025: ERIA’s Regional Knowledge Centre for Marine Plastic Debris participated in a series of ASEAN Working Group meetings related to regional actions against plastic pollution. The Centre provided updates on its activities supporting plastic pollution countermeasures across the region.
On 2 July 2025, Mr Reo Kawamura, Director of the Centre, virtually attended the open session of the 17th Meeting of ASEAN Working Group on Environmental Education (AWGEE), hosted by the Philippines and chaired by Cambodia. He highlighted the achievements and progress of the ‘Breaking the Plastic Habit Phase 2’, a behavioural change project initiated by ERIA and implemented by the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES). The project aims to reduce single-use-plastic (SUP) consumption in six ASEAN countries.
Mr Kawamura also introduced ERIA’s forthcoming initiative: the Behavioural Lab, to be launched later this year. This one-stop hub and coalition will bring together organisations working on behavioural change programmes across ASEAN. Furthermore, he highlighted ERIA’s recent initiatives aimed at providing learning and networking opportunities for environmental journalists and ASEAN youth on issues surrounding plastic pollution.
On 4 July 2025, Mr Michikazu Kojima, Senior Research Fellow at ERIA on Environmental Issues, attended the open session of the 26th Meeting of ASEAN Working Group on Coastal and Marine Environment (AWGCME), hosted by Malaysia and chaired by Thailand. He presented ERIA’s ongoing activities, such as co-hosting the upcoming ASEAN Conference on Combatting Plastic Pollution (ACCPP) with the Government of Malaysia in October 2025, and conducting the ERIA–IGES ASEAN Plastic Book Project.
He also introduced ERIA’s newly established capacity-building programme, with its three activities already in the pipeline for 2025–2026. Finally, Mr Kojima reported the completion of the community-led plastic waste clean-up project in an Indonesian mangrove forest, as well as shared the progress of the Bioindicator Project, aimed at establishing a cost-efficient monitoring system for plastic pollution in the ASEAN region.
Director of the Knowledge Centre
Kuala Lumpur, 4 July 2025: ERIA’s Regional Knowledge Centre for Marine Plastic Debris participated in a series of ASEAN Working Group meetings related to regional actions against plastic pollution. The Centre provided updates on its activities supporting plastic pollution countermeasures across the region.
On 2 July 2025, Mr Reo Kawamura, Director of the Centre, virtually attended the open session of the 17th Meeting of ASEAN Working Group on Environmental Education (AWGEE), hosted by the Philippines and chaired by Cambodia. He highlighted the achievements and progress of the ‘Breaking the Plastic Habit Phase 2’, a behavioural change project initiated by ERIA and implemented by the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES). The project aims to reduce single-use-plastic (SUP) consumption in six ASEAN countries.
Mr Kawamura also introduced ERIA’s forthcoming initiative: the Behavioural Lab, to be launched later this year. This one-stop hub and coalition will bring together organisations working on behavioural change programmes across ASEAN. Furthermore, he highlighted ERIA’s recent initiatives aimed at providing learning and networking opportunities for environmental journalists and ASEAN youth on issues surrounding plastic pollution.
On 4 July 2025, Mr Michikazu Kojima, Senior Research Fellow at ERIA on Environmental Issues, attended the open session of the 26th Meeting of ASEAN Working Group on Coastal and Marine Environment (AWGCME), hosted by Malaysia and chaired by Thailand. He presented ERIA’s ongoing activities, such as co-hosting the upcoming ASEAN Conference on Combatting Plastic Pollution (ACCPP) with the Government of Malaysia in October 2025, and conducting the ERIA–IGES ASEAN Plastic Book Project.
He also introduced ERIA’s newly established capacity-building programme, with its three activities already in the pipeline for 2025–2026. Finally, Mr Kojima reported the completion of the community-led plastic waste clean-up project in an Indonesian mangrove forest, as well as shared the progress of the Bioindicator Project, aimed at establishing a cost-efficient monitoring system for plastic pollution in the ASEAN region.
Director of the Knowledge Centre
