SACEP is the responsible implementing agency for this project. SACEP is an inter-governmental organization established by Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka in 1982 to promote and support protection, management, and enhancement of the environment in the region. SACEP’s core program and project activities include waste management, including plastics, and climate change adaptation. In addition, SACEP serves as the secretariat of the South Asian Seas Programme (SASP), one of 18 such Regional Seas Programmes under the United Nations Environment Program. SACEP’s SASP administers the Action Plan for the Protection and Management of the Marine and Coastal Environment of the South Asian Seas Region which includes, as one of its four key focus areas, the environmental effects of land-based activities. In 2007 SACEP adopted the Framework on Marine Litter Management in SAS Region and is the only regional organization, based in the region, that is actively engaged with issues relating to waste management and marine plastic debris. 46. The regional project would strengthen SACEP to administer relevant project activities via the following intuitional structure, which includes a Ministerial Level Governing Council (GC), Consultative Committee (CC), National Focal Points (NFPs), Subject Area Focal Points (SAFP), and a Colombo-based Secretariat (SEC) and depicted in the figure below.
