In Panel on Preventing, Significantly Reducing Marine Pollution, Speakers Focus on Plastic Contamination
NICE, FRANCE, 10 June — There is no justification for single-use plastics, experts at a panel discussion at the 2025 Ocean Conference underscored, even as some of them disagreed on whether the global plastics treaty currently under negotiation will achieve its original ambition.
The afternoon’s panel discussion — the fourth one of the week — on “Preventing and Significantly Reducing Marine Pollution of all Kinds, in Particular from Land-Based Activities” was moderated by Charles Goddard, Executive Director of The Economist’s World Oceans Summit, who began by expressing concern that the ambition of the global plastics treaty has been watered down. That treaty will enter a final round of negotiations in August in Geneva. “The perception that the treaty process has been derailed should be of high concern to all of us,” he said.
However, the first panellist, Inger Andersen, Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), disagreed roundly with this assessment. While there are divergences, she noted, Member States have made huge compromises and the regional meetings are still under way. “Please give us a chance before you come out with those kind of headlines”, she appealed. Noting that there are three elements of the treaty that are in contention — additives and chemicals, sustainable consumption and production, and financing — she said it should be possible to land “a package deal” in Geneva. The private sector, especially the consumer goods sector, wants to innovate — ordinary people are voting with their “shillings and dollars and pounds” because they do not want to be part of the plastic pollution. “Folks who understand we have plastic in our bodies will insist that their decision makers and negotiators come to an agreement”, she said.
She was one among several speakers who highlighted the danger of single-use plastics and the high cost of failing to manage plastic pollution. “By the time I conclude my remarks today, approximately five more garbage trucks worth of plastic will enter the ocean,” Janis Searles Jones, Chief Executive Officer of the Ocean Conservancy, pointed out. Plastics have made their way to every corner of the ocean, from the Arctic to the Antarctic, from the ocean’s surface to its Twilight Zone, the band of water between 200 and 1,000 meters in depth. The Zone is a massive carbon conveyer belt, pulling carbon down from surface waters into the deep sea. But “just as marine life pulls carbon down into the Twilight Zone, marine life is now pulling down plastics”, she said. Plastics are even in our bodies; yet it is predicted to increase by as much as 50 per cent by 2040.
“The plastics life cycle is one of pollution from start to finish — from initial carbon emissions to its final stage as a microplastic inside a lanternfish, or in my own body, or as litter on your beach”, she said. But single-use plastic bags, bottles, sachets and so on are also the most easily eliminated or replaced by alternative, zero-waste delivery systems like reuse and refill. The other driver of plastic pollution is lost and abandoned fishing gear — also known as ghost gear. It is pound for pound the deadliest form of marine debris, she pointed out, calling for better management practices, such as removing legacy gear in fishing grounds and other biodiverse areas.
The European Union is committed to an ambitious global plastics treaty, said Jessika Roswall, Commissioner for Environment, Water Resilience and a Competitive Circular Economy of the European Commission. The Union has made some progress in decreasing marine litter on its beaches; it is also promoting new bio-based materials to replace plastics. “And we are ready to do more”, she reaffirmed, spotlighting its Water Resilience Strategy — “our most ambitious initiative” — for addressing water stress. “Our waters are a circular ecosystem,” she said. The rivers flow into the oceans and carry the results of land activities, therefore, “in order to protect the seas, we need to fight pollution at source”, she said.
Wendy Watson-Wright, Chair of the Joint Group of Experts on the Scientific Aspects of Marine Environmental Protection, stressed the need to refer to the ocean “in singular” because there is only one vast interconnected global ocean. Another compelling reason is that humans tend look after things more when they know there is only one of them, not several, she pointed out. “Talk is cheap, but action is not”, she said, adding that it is crucial to accelerate work on the pledges and promises already made at the various ocean conferences and venues, within and outside the United Nations. It would be especially wise to create an inventory and to amalgamate as many of them as possible, she proposed.
She also stressed the need to frame issues like marine pollution as primarily a social rather than just an environmental issue. “We must reverse the burden of proof so that it is incumbent upon extractive industries in particular to demonstrate the harmlessness of their projects and actions before they begin, rather than upon ocean conservationists to beg for protection after the fact”, she added. Strategies to address the marine pollution issue must be accompanied by targeted public education and awareness programmes.
Rafael Mariano Grossi, Director-General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), detailed the benefits of the scientific and technological education provided by the Agency. As an example, he detailed how radio tracers are used to investigate how ocean acidification affects marine life. IAEA has trained more than 1,000 experts and is the site of an international educational and coordination centre for scientists. Noting that IAEA launched a “new tech plastic” using isotopic hydrology, he said it is also building the capacity of national laboratories. Noting that he himself led the first expedition to identify plastic pollution in Antarctica, he said that IAEA is also able to help use nuclear radiation technology to recycle products without using chemical solvents.
The panel was co-chaired by Messouda Baham Mohamed Laghdaf, Minister for Environment of Mauritania, and Carsten Schneider, Federal Minister for the Environment, Climate Action, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety of Germany. Alexander Turra, Convener of Oceans 20 and Romain Troublé, Managing Director, Tara Ocean, offered additional remarks as lead discussants. The panel was followed by an interactive discussion featuring representatives of Member States as well as civil society speakers.