Dozens of countries are joining ocean stewardship

Pollution in the oceans is an increasingly pressing problem. United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said that the planet is facing the triple crisis of climate change, loss of biodiversity and pollution, and he stressed in his participation in the “One Ocean” summit that the ocean bears much of this burden. Guterres said coastal ecosystems have become a dumping ground for sewage and nutrients, creating vast dead zones, and plastic waste is choking the seas. The conference also addressed overfishing, destructive fishing practices, and illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing that threatens fish stocks.

Currently, the world dumps nearly eleven million tons of plastic into the oceans every year, and scientific findings show the urgent need to act against pollution from this litter and highlight that it is a crisis that cannot be addressed simply by recycling. For this reason, the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) calls for a systemic shift leading to a circular economy.

Specifically, Canada, Colombia, Greece, Italy, Norway, the Republic of Korea, Uganda and the subnational governments of the City of Paris, Central Greece and the Basque Country have reported that they will join the Global Commitment for the New Economy. Of plastic. The accession was announced during the “One Ocean” summit held in the city of Brest, France. In this economic model, plastic never turns into waste, and thus the pollution it causes, especially in the oceans, is significantly reduced.

This is the Global Commitment for the New Plastics Economy, a voluntary framework that guides countries to implement concrete measures to accelerate the systemic shift towards a circular plastics economy. This agreement seeks to reduce the production of these materials by 55% by 2040, which will save governments about 70 billion dollars between now and then, in addition to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 25% and creating 70,000 job opportunities, in total, in developing countries.

According to the UN agency, the circular economy could also reduce the volume of plastics going into the sea by more than 80% by 2040. On the other hand, if decisive action is not taken immediately, solid plastic waste will double and plastic stocks will rise. In the world. The ocean will quadruple by the same year. If only current commitments from governments and industries are maintained, marine plastic litter will only be reduced by 7% by 2040.

The critical environmental situation requires a change of course. In this context, Guterres stressed the importance of saving the oceans to achieve sustainable development goals and implement the Paris Agreement on climate change. “We need more and better partnerships to address land-based sources of marine pollution. It is time to get rid of single-use plastics. I commend the encouraging measures that some countries have adopted,” he noted, citing recent announcements that created new marine protected areas, including a Offshore Galapagos in Ecuador.Finally, the UN Secretary-General urged countries to accelerate the deployment of marine renewable energy, arguing that it is clean and can create jobs.