The world must unite in a war against plastic - says Inger Andersen UNEP Executive Director ahead of UNEA-5

UNEP's “From to Pollution to Solution” – A Closer Look...

The United Nation's Environment Program (UNEP) is the leading global environmental authority setting the global environmental agenda, promoting implementation of the environmental dimension of sustainable development within the UN system, and serving as a staunch advocate for our global environment. Their mission provides leadership and encourages partnerships in caring for the environment by inspiring, informing, and enabling nations and peoples to improve their quality of life, without compromising that of future generations (UNEP, 2021).

UNEP' s “From Pollution to Solution: A global assessment of marine litter and plastic pollution” report reveals the impact of marine litter and plastic pollution in the environment and their effects on the health of ecosystems, wildlife and humans.

This post is a sequel to my previous post entitled “Marine Ecosystems Theory, Research, and Application(s) - A Triple Threat” and is intended to amplify the “Key Findings” of UNEPs recent global assessments and to provide additional relevant information for those engaged or interested in marine litter and plastic pollution mitigation, re-processing, and/or prevention, and the conservation and protection of our precious marine ecosystems.

UNEP Key Findings:

The amount of marine litter and plastic pollution has been growing rapidly. Emissions of plastic waste into aquatic ecosystems are projected to nearly triple by 2040 without meaningful action.

Marine litter and plastics present a serious threat to all marine life, while also influencing the climate.

Human health and well-being are at risk.

There are hidden costs for the global economy.

Marine litter and plastics are threat multipliers.

The main sources of marine litter and plastic pollution are land-based.

The movement and accumulation of marine litter and plastics occur over decades.

Technological advances and the growth of citizen science activities are improving detection of marine litter and plastic pollution, but consistency of measurements remains a challenge.

Plastic recycling rates are less than 10 per cent and plastics-related greenhouse gas emissions are significant, but some solutions are emerging.

Progress is being made at all levels, with a potential global instrument in sight.
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https://www.unep.org/
https://www.unep.org/resources/pollution-solution-global-assessment-mar…
https://www.unep.org/interactive/pollution-to-solution/
https://www.unep.org/resources/publication/marine-plastic-debris-and-mi…

Marine Ecosystems Theory, Research, and Application(s) – A Triple Threat...

The ocean covers about 71% of Earth’s surface. An estimated 97% of the world’s water is found in the ocean resulting in considerable impacts on weather, temperature, and our food supply. Despite its size and the huge impact on our lives and the lives of all organisms on Earth, the ocean remains a mystery to many of us. More than 80 percent of the ocean has never been mapped, explored, or even seen by humans (National Geographic, 2021).

Marine ecosystems contain a diverse array of living organisms and abiotic constituents, reactions, and processes. From massive marine mammals like whales to the tiny krill that form the bottom of the food chain, all life in the ocean is interconnected, as well as directly connected to our lives on the land.

Coral reefs occur in more than 100 countries and territories and are among the most vulnerable ecosystems on the planet due to anthropogenic pressures including global threats from climate change and ocean acidification, and local impacts from land-based pollution such as input of nutrients and sediments from agriculture, marine pollution, and over-fishing and destructive fishing practices (GCRMN, 2020).

An indicator is a measurable quantity that helps us understand the health status of an ecosystem, much as human health is gauged by indicators such as blood pressure, temperature, or pulse rate that are routinely measured over time. NOAA monitors and provides extensive data, information, and decision-support products related to the state of marine, coastal, and aquatic ecosystems, their biota, and the human communities that depend upon them (NOAA, 2022).

"An ocean which thinks there is nothing to learn from a lake is not a wise ocean." Mehmet Murat ildan
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https://apps.who.int/iris/handle/10665/346832
https://www.euro.who.int/__data/assets/pdf_file/0009/404496/SDG-14-poli…
https://www.unep.org/news-and-stories/story/5-reasons-why-healthy-ocean…
https://www.conservation.org/projects/ocean-health-index
https://www.ipcc.ch/srocc/chapter/chapter-5/
https://www.nationalgeographic.org/maps/extreme-marine-ecosystems/
https://www.nationalgeographic.org/topics/resource-library-marine-ecosy…
https://www.thegef.org/what-we-do/topics/international-waters/marine/la…
http://geftwap.org/water-systems/large-marine-ecosystems
https://www.annalsofglobalhealth.org/articles/10.5334/aogh.2831/
https://www.nationalgeographic.org/media/teaching-idea-marine-ecosystem…
https://www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/marine-ecosystems/
http://www3.aag.org/cs/global_marine_ecosystems
file:///C:/Users/17155/Downloads/AAG_Marine_Ecosyst_bklt72.pdf
https://www.esri.com/en-us/about/science/initiatives/ocean-science#emu
https://oceans-esrioceans.hub.arcgis.com/
https://www.esri.com/en-us/about/science/maps-apps
https://gcrmn.net/2020-report/
https://gcrmn.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Chapter-2.-Status-of-Coral…
https://unep-corals.vercel.app/?lang=EN
https://www.unep.org/resources/pollution-solution-global-assessment-mar…
file:///C:/Users/17155/Downloads/POLSOL.pdf
www.unep.org
https://ecowatch.noaa.gov/
https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/ecosystems/
https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/topic/ecosystems
https://ccme.famu.edu/
https://research.noaa.gov/article/ArtMID/587/ArticleID/2801/NOAAs-Natio…
https://www.pmel.noaa.gov/pmel-theme/marine-ecosystem-research
https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/ecosystems/coastalecosci/
https://www.cleanseas.org/about

The Plastic Wars and Beyond...

While plastic has many valuable uses, we have become addicted to single-use or disposable plastic — with severe environmental consequences. Around the world, one million plastic drinking bottles are purchased every minute, while 5 trillion single-use plastic bags are used worldwide every year. In total, half of all plastic produced is designed to be used only once — and then thrown away (UNEP, 2022).

Facing increased public concern about ever-increasing amounts of garbage, the image of plastics is falling dramatically. State and local officials across the USA have and are considering banning some kinds of plastics in an effort to reduce waste and pollution. But the industry had a plan; a way to fend off plastic bans and keep its sales growing. It would publicly promote recycling as the solution to the waste crisis — despite internal industry doubts, from almost the beginning, that widespread plastic recycling could ever be economically viable.

The strategy — and doubts — are revealed in “Plastic Wars,” an investigative documentary. With the plastic industry expanding like never before and the crisis of ocean pollution growing, FRONTLINE and NPR investigate the fight over the future of plastics (PBS, 2020).

Facing a growing public outcry over the plastic pollution crisis, some of the world’s biggest consumer brand companies have promised to dramatically boost recycling. Yet some of those same companies have made — and failed to deliver on — similar promises in the past. A review of corporate commitments by FRONTLINE has found that three major brand companies and an association of plastic bag makers — all of which have recently pledged to increase the recycled content of their plastic packaging and bags — have fallen short of ambitious recycling-related goals in the past (PBS, 2020).
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https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/film/plastic-wars/
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/the-plastic-industry-is-grow…
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/companies-new-pledges-to-boo…
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/plastics-industry-insiders-r…
https://www.unep.org/interactive/beat-plastic-pollution/
https://plasticsrecycling.org/library
https://www.epa.gov/facts-and-figures-about-materials-waste-and-recycli…
https://ourworldindata.org/plastic-pollution
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/plastic-trash-in-sea…

Garbage Patch Update...

Garbage patches are large areas of the ocean where litter, fishing gear, and other debris - known as marine debris - collects. They are formed by rotating ocean currents called “gyres.” One can think of them as big whirlpools that pull objects in.

The gyres pull debris into one location, often the gyre’s center, forming “patches.” Debris ranges in size, from large abandoned fishing nets to tiny microplastics, which are plastic pieces smaller than 5mm in size (NOAA, 2021).

There are five gyres in the ocean. One in the Indian Ocean, two in the Atlantic Ocean, and two in the Pacific Ocean. Garbage patches of varying sizes are located in each gyre. The most famous of these patches is often called the “Great Pacific Garbage Patch,” located in the North Pacific Gyre.

It may not be possible to entirely get rid of garbage patches. Some of the material will take a very long time to break down in the environment, while other materials, like plastics, may never fully degrade and disperse without harming marine ecosystems.

Large debris, like fishing nets, can be removed by people, but debris in the garbage patches is also mostly made up (by count) of plastic pieces smaller than 5mm in size. The debris is also continuously mixed by wind and wave action and is spread from the surface all the way to the ocean floor.

Finding cost effective technologies that can take on these challenges is extremely challenging. The NOAA Marine Debris Program focuses on marine debris prevention and removal from shorelines and coastal areas where debris is easier to pick up. Prevention is key to solving the marine debris problem over time. By acting to prevent marine debris, we can stop this problem from growing (NOAA, 2021).
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https://marinedebris.noaa.gov/sites/default/files/publications-files/gp…
www.MarineDebris.noaa.gov
https://marinedebris.noaa.gov/info/patch.html
https://marinedebris.noaa.gov/what-we-know-about-garbage-patches
https://marinedebris.noaa.gov/discover-marine-debris
https://marinedebris.noaa.gov/our-work/education
https://marinedebris.noaa.gov/resources/funding-opportunities
https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/4174
https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/149163/mapping-marine-micropla…
https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/gyre.html
https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9449485
https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/currentdata.html
https://podaac.jpl.nasa.gov/dataset/CYGNSS_L3_MICROPLASTIC_V1.0
https://www.nasa.gov/feature/esnt2021/scientists-use-nasa-satellite-dat…
https://impactunofficial.medium.com/marine-debris-finding-the-plastic-n…
https://podaac.jpl.nasa.gov/dataset/CYGNSS_L2_V2.1
https://earthdata.nasa.gov/learn/articles/ocean-plastic

"Everyone’s Looking for Plastic."

The New York Times looks at Senegal's growing industry built around recycling plastic waste.

“We’re the people protecting the environment,” said 76-year-old waste picker, Pape Ndiaye. “Everything that pollutes it, we take to industries, and they transform it.”