Implementation of the policy rather than the idea of ​​Axis Global Maritime is not only about how the government to resolve the case of illegal fishing, fisheries resource management, and maritime diplomacy strategy. Today, Indonesia is faced with a serious condition related to waste management and marine environment. Indonesia, China, is a contributor to the state of waste plastics into the oceans in the world.

Research conducted by a team of researchers in environmental science from the University of California in 2015, as reported by The Wall Street Journal on Thursday, 2/12, said that China and Indonesia are the two biggest contributors of plastic waste in the oceans. This waste includes waste plastic bottles and bags, as well as the rest of substances other living organisms (marine detritus).

Serious threat

The research team led by Jenna Jambeck, an assistant professor of environmental engineering at the University of Georgia, has concluded there are at least 192 countries contribute the plastic waste into the ocean. Research data collected by the data consumer and waste management database that covers the entire population of the coastal communities in the world. As a result, China and Indonesia are the two biggest contributors plastic waste.

Indonesia is the largest archipelago in the world with a long coastline of 95 181 km and has a population of coastal communities (and the big cities on the coast) of 161 million people or 60 % of the total population of Indonesia. In 2010, Indonesian coastal communities has resulted 3:22 million tons of plastic waste is not managed properly, or about 10 percent of the total plastic waste in the world. Of these, the range of waste between 0,48 million to 1,29 million tons of plastic waste into the category of marine waste.

From these figures, it is not surprising that Indonesia is the country 's second largest producer of plastic waste in the world. This fact confronts us with the issue of hazardous environments. The abundance of plastic waste in the oceans is a serious threat to marine ecosystems.

Dangers of plastic waste

The largest element in the ocean is plastic contaminants. Plastic is a material which is not biodegradable. When entering into the ocean, plastic takes longer to degraded than when on land. According to the website page Safers Against Sewage (sas.org.uk), a non-governmental organization the environmental field, ordinary plastic bottle into the water takes approximately 450 years to perfect degraded.

Plastic also can adsorb chemical compounds sea, which causes the plastic can be very dangerous foreign material, and often into the food chain of marine organisms such as fish, seabirds, marine mammals, other organisms. Recorded at least 100.000 marine mammals and more than one million seabirds die each year due to indigestion of plastic waste in the oceans. If left unchecked, this will disrupt the continuity and the balance of ecosystems and biodiversity in the oceans.

The environmental issue is a reality that is counterproductive to the ideals of President Jokowi to make Indonesia as the Global Maritime shaft. As mentioned in the beginning, Axis Global Maritime policy implementation should be able to reflect the identity of Indonesia that has the power to manage all aspects of maritime. Marine waste management to be one of the most important component because it involves the sustainability of marine ecosystems and biodiversity.

Manage waste

In this case, we should learn from other countries such as the UK, Norway, Japan, and the United States. These four countries have the capability of managing maritime aspect is so strong. Marine waste intake data from the same study showed that the numbers of plastic waste intake of these countries ranged from 0.1 to 0.3 million tonnes. It shows, the UK, Norway, Japan, and the United States have a commitment, effort, and waste management systems are good sea.

Efforts to tackle uncontrolled waste plastics require massive steps and structured. In this case, there are at least three major steps that can be implemented.

First, the government in order to create a master plan for the integrated management of marine waste. Law of Republic of Indonesia No. 32 of 2014 on the Marine, the general provisions of Article 1 point 10, has stated that a systematic and integrated efforts undertaken as marine protection measures of marine pollution. However, until now there has been no real implementation in the form of policies that regulate aspects of marine pollution source itself, such as the activity in the harbor, ships, shore excursions, fishing activities etc . This policy needs to be projected to the operation management of marine pollution safe and professional.

Second, the government to cooperate with universities. Universities need to be directed to developing superior research to address the issue of marine waste management and minimizing the resulting environmental risks. This effort requires the synergy inter-ministerial professional, in this case the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries (MMAF) with the Ministry of Research and Higher Education (Kemenrisetdikti) .

Third, the active participation of the various elements of society participation has now we encounter in the form of activities such as coastal clean-ups and other activities.

Finally, we can not be silent when faced with these environmental issues. As our small steps to get started, we can reduce the use of plastic materials in our daily lives. Awareness and public awareness needs to be improved and transmitted to others as we attempt to rescue and preserve the marine environment for our children and grandchildren in the future.