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CEO Naoko Ishii adressed a crowd of 270,000 at the Global Citizen 2015 Earth Day event to inform on the perils of marine debris and call people to action.
We all have a role to play. On this Earth Day, reduce, reuse, recycle!
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What is marine debris?
Huge amounts of consumer plastics, metals, rubber, paper, textiles, derelict fishing gear, vessels, and other lost or discarded items enter the marine environment every day, making marine debris one of the most widespread pollution problems facing the world's oceans and waterways. Specifically, marine debris is defined as "any persistent solid material that is manufactured or processed and directly or indirectly, intentionally or unintentionally, disposed of or abandoned into the marine environment." NOAA, 2015.
Plastics constitute 80% of marine debris. There are over 8 million tons of plastic entering the ocean every year.
What is the problem?
Marine debris directly impacts marine biodiversity and pollutes our waterways with consequent impacts on fisheries, coastal tourism and shipping. The resulting economic impacts are estimated at $13B per year in clean-up and loss revenues.
Furthermore, marine debris, and plastics in particular, threaten marine life through entanglement and ingestion with over 600species impacted through entanglement in and ingestion of marine debris. Research suggest that this number has increased 40% between 1997 and to 2011. Human health is indirectly affected as well through bioaccumlation in the seafood we consume.
The problem is expected to get worse. By the year 2025 there will be an estimated 1lb of plastic for every 3lbs of fish in the ocean. And the problem is not going away. It takes approximately 450 years for a plastic water bottle to degrade in the ocean.
The need to address marine debris has been highlighted by the Convention for Biological Diversity during the 10th Conference of the Parties and during the Rio+20 Conference in which nations committed to take action by 2025 to reduce marine debris harmful to the coastal and marine environment. More recently at the Our Oceans summit, US Secretary of State John Kerry highlighted marine pollution, particularly debris, as a priority issue and the Prince of Wales co-hosted with the Global Ocean Commission the International Marine Plastics forum bringing together world experts to address this critical issue.
What to do?
Eliminating marine debris is not as simple as a massive ocean clean-up. This is a highly complex issue that involves understanding the entire life cycle of materials that end up in the ocean –from creation to consumption to disposal. Opportunities for intervention include among others:
- Promote “green chemistry” – the redesign and production of sustainable products, for example single use packaging;
- Improve waste management practices (from collection to disposal) to prevent debris from entering the marine environment; and,
- Clean-up debris on the shoreline and/or in the ocean.
- Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle!
All of these strategies require engagement from a broad coalition of stakeholders including governments, plastic producers and users, environmental organizations and academia.
For more information contact Leah Karrer, GEF Sr. Environmental Specialist, lkarrer@thegef.org.
Read this story in Spanish here.