The Indonesia-sponsored UNEA-4 resolution, “Sustainable Management for the Global Health of Mangroves,” highlights mangroves as vital yet fragile ecosystems rich in biodiversity. However, increasing ocean plastic pollution threatens ecosystem of mangrove forests. While Indonesia has conducted nationwide beach debris surveys, studies on marine litter in mangroves remain limited. To address this, ERIA's Regional Knowledge Centre for Marine Plastic Debris, with the support of the Ministry of the Environment of Japan (MOE-J) and in collaboration with Japan NUS Co., Ltd. (JANUS) as the implementing partner, launched the “Pilot Project of Floating and Drifted Marine Plastics in Mangroves” (2023-2025) to better understand and tackle mangrove litter.

The guidelines, the project's second output, aims at materializing efficient and effective clean-up activities in terms of awareness raising and protection of mangrove against drifted marine litters, thereby contributing to sustainable community-led clean-up campaigns, especially in mangrove ecosystems. It is to be noted that the clean-up methodologies suggested here are, by design, not to employ any high-tech equipment or heavy machinery. Instead, the guidelines are intended to make community-led clean-up activities safe and easy, without the involvement of specialized staff or tools to ensure that the activity is conducted nationwide and to promote countermeasures.

The guidelines also provide information about environmental education on the importance of mangrove conservation, the negative impact of marine litter on mangroves, and prevention methods (including considerations for preparing educational materials that can be adapted in other regions). Readers can also find examples of learning methods and interactive learning, which can be utilized during clean-up events. In addition, to support the planning of clean-up activities, these guidelines provide a detailed flowchart of the actual clean-up events conducted during this project.