world oceans day
The US Shouldn’t Stand in the Way of an Ambitious Global Plastics Treaty
The United States has so far backed country-specific over global plastic-reduction targets, but relying on national targets alone undermines the sincerity and cohesiveness of a global effort to reduce plastics and their associated emissions.
On this World Oceans Day, by far the largest threat to ocean health is plastic production and pollution. So policymakers and marine lovers alike should be paying attention to the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on Plastic Pollution, which wrapped up meetings in Paris last week with a mandate to create an internationally binding treaty on plastic production, reuse, and pollution by the end of 2024.
Comprising an estimated 85% of all ocean waste, 11 million tons of plastic enter the ocean annually—an amount that the United Nations estimates will triple within the next 20 years if nothing changes. Discarded plastic and insidious microplastics fill the stomachs of fish, marine mammals, and sea birds. Plastic debris has been found embedded in sea ice and deep-sea sediment, and even floating ominously in the deepest depths of our planet, the Mariana Trench.
Plastic threatens our oceans in a less obvious way as well. The fossil-fuel-driven plastics industry is one of the single greatest contributors to climate change, accounting for nearly as many greenhouse gas emissions as the aviation and international shipping sectors combined, making the plastic industry one of the leading causes of rapidly rising ocean temperatures. The ocean is a massive natural heat sink, absorbing 90% of global warming over the last few decades.
The U.S. is neither above the causes, nor immune to the effects, of global plastic pollution.
At the same time, the ocean absorbs an estimated 30% of all carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, making it at once our most precious ally in the fight against global warming, and our most critically triaged victim of that same fight. As increased saturation of carbon dioxide leads to ocean acidification, coral reef ecosystems—critical to protecting erosion-prone coastlines—are dying at an alarming rate. Kelp forests, capable of sequestering an estimated 200 million tons of carbon annually, are likewise struggling to adapt to warmer waters.
The U.N. Environmental Programme’s circularity platform proposes a ground-up reimagining of how plastics are initially produced, shifting from massive production of single-use disposable or recyclable items to fewer products meant to be reused, repurposed, repaired, and refurbished.
Shifting how the world views plastic production, usage, and lifecycle will require a coordinated international effort. Much of last week’s debate in Paris focused on whether the treaty should codify such efforts as national or global targets. The United States maintained the position that it has previously argued to the Committee meeting: that national targets would create a “race to the top,” boosting innovation and leading to more ambitious plastic reuse or recycling projects.
But national targets alone will not be enough to enact the sea change we now need (an apt pun). The U.S.’s position erodes the bold and hopeful leadership that the leaders of the G7, including President Biden, expressed mere weeks ago in Hiroshima, when they called for global cooperation to “end to plastic pollution, with the ambition to reduce additional plastic pollution to zero by 2040.”
Relying on national targets alone undermines the sincerity and cohesiveness of a global effort to reduce plastics and their associated emissions. A disjointed constellation of national policies creates loopholes that international corporations responsible for much of large-scale plastics production can exploit to circumvent local restrictions and continue their harmful practices. It eliminates the prospect of an enforceable global ban on particularly harmful chemicals and polymers, fractures any attempt at true circularity, and jeopardizes reporting, monitoring, and transparency efforts by allowing each nation to establish its own pace and priorities.
Most importantly, without the global enforcement mechanism of rules that apply to all governments, developing nations most at risk from plastic pollution and climate disaster may be left to deal with the devastating local effects of decisions made elsewhere. Led by the increasingly threatened island nation of Mauritius, the High Ambition Coalition warned ahead of last month’s G7 Summit that this has become a matter of life or death, with “countries on the frontlines already… reaching limits to their ability to adapt” to rising sea levels and temperatures.
These threats are on America’s shores as well. In the U.S. territories of Guam and American Samoa, marine biodiversity is directly threatened by plastic pollution, and rising sea levels increasingly endanger infrastructure, industry, and agriculture. The Hawai’i Wildlife Fund clears 15 to 20 tons of plastic debris from Hawai’ian shores each year, much of it abandoned fishing gear known as “ghost gear,” a death trap to marine life that encounters it. And within the continental U.S., the Delaware River ranks among the 1,000 rivers worldwide identified by The Ocean Cleanup as responsible for 80% of the world’s riverine pollution flow out into the ocean.
The U.S. is neither above the causes, nor immune to the effects, of global plastic pollution. We must also be part of a global plastic solution. When the Committee meets again this fall to discuss a first draft of the treaty, the United States should stand among those nations advocating for clear and universal targets for reduced plastic pollution.
Oceans in Peril as World Oceans Day Marked
Pollution, climate change, overfishing plague oceans
As World Oceans Day is marked today, the planet's oceans in are peril from overfishing, pollution and climate change.
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon noted the challenges facing oceans today, stating, "We must do more for our world's oceans, which are threatened by pollution, depleted fishery resources, the impacts of climate change and the deterioration of the marine environment."
Ban saw the upcoming UN Conference on Sustainable Development in Brazil, known as Rio +20, as a hopeful opportunity to global commitment to action. "Rio+20 must mobilize the United Nations, governments and other partners to improve the management and conservation of oceans through initiatives to curb overfishing, improve protection of the marine environment and reduce ocean pollution and the impact of climate change."
But not everyone is optimistic. World Wide Fund for Nature stated that "very few paragraphs [of the negotiating text for Rio +20] include time framed commitments, and little action oriented text."
Beyond individual action, Sarah Chasis writes on NRDC, "Demanding that our leaders create reliable solutions is an important step toward a sustainable ocean future. We need to go beyond good intentions this year and place the focus on action."
But action to heal the oceans is urgent for humankind. "The ocean is literally our lifeline," adds Fabien Cousteau, grandson of ocean explorer Jacques-Yves Cousteau. "Without it we will perish."
* * *
Richard Page writing on the Greenpeace blog:
Defending our oceans every day
Today is World Oceans Day, the day we celebrate all that the oceans give us. They provide humankind with food, jobs and the oxygen we breathe. If we are to survive on this planet, we need living oceans. However, decades of destructive fishing, pollution and energy exploration are pushing our oceans to the brink, while climate change is forever altering our oceans.
But there is hope. We can restore our oceans to health if we end overfishing and create a global network of marine reserves: wildlife sanctuaries at sea that are off-limits to fishing and other harmful practices. [...]
For us at Greenpeace, every day is World Oceans Day and you can help.
- Demand that your supermarket and tuna brand source sustainable tuna. Look for tuna cans with "Pole and Line" or "Hand-Caught."
- Ask your politicians and business leaders to support the creation of marine reserves. your voice here to tell governments gathering in Rio later this month to support marine reserves!
- Use less wasteful plastic. 80% of plastic pollution in our oceans comes from land-based sources
- Tell energy companies and governments to stop dangerous energy, especially in our fragile polar oceans.
- Learn about where your fish is from- is it from far away? How many of this fish is left? Knowing what you're eating an making the right decisions is important.
* * *
Plastic in 'Great Pacific Garbage Patch' Has Increased 100-Fold
Plastic garbage in the ocean has increased 100-fold in the past 40 years and could have ecosystem-wide impacts, according to a study released Tuesday.
Scientists from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography looked at the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre (NPSG), known as the 'Great Pacific Garbage Patch,' and found an "alarming amount" of plastic trash, much in small bits.
The plastic trash was leading to an increase in "sea skaters," a marine insect, eggs because the insects were using the increased plastic floating matter as to lay their eggs on. This increase may have widespread impacts across the marine food web.
"This paper shows a dramatic increase in plastic over a relatively short time period and the effect it's having on a common North Pacific Gyre invertebrate," said Scripps graduate student Miriam Goldstein, lead author of the study and chief scientist of SEAPLEX, a UC Ship Funds-supported voyage. "We're seeing changes in this marine insect that can be directly attributed to the plastic."
"Plastic only became widespread in late '40s and early '50s, but now everyone uses it and over a 40-year range we've seen a dramatic increase in ocean plastic," added Goldstein. "Historically we have not been very good at stopping plastic from getting into the ocean so hopefully in the future we can do better."
* * *
TED Talk from 2010:
Jeremy Jackson: How we wrecked the ocean
In this bracing talk, coral reef ecologist Jeremy Jackson lays out the shocking state of the ocean today: overfished, overheated, polluted, with indicators that things will get much worse.
* * *
Sarah Chasis writing on NRDC's Switchboard blog
Making it Count: National Oceans Month and Rio+20
Rio+20 happens to fall during the same month as World Oceans Day (June 8) and ocean protection will be at the top of the agenda for the summit, as one of seven priority areas. With the destruction of our oceans ever escalating, we'll need more than good intentions. Now is the time to make our actions count and to hold nations accountable for the outcomes of these negotiations. [...]
The ocean world is dynamic, and it doesn't obey national boundaries or political lines. That's why international collaboration is key to a healthy ocean future.
The international community has a collective responsibility to work together on the issues that affect the world's oceans, coastal economies, and people everywhere. We're counting on them to safeguard the coral reefs teeming with life, the deep sea mounts with undiscovered creatures, the billions of people who depend on the economic resources provided by the sea, and all of us who have the oceans to thank for the water we drink and the air we breathe.