Global Online Townhall 3
Turning the Tide on Marine Plastics:
How UNEA-5 can be a Turning Point
8 June, 16:00-18:00(CEST)
CONNECT, ENGAGE and INTERACT with the PANELISTS via LIVE
Q&A, POLLS, DISCUSSIONS
Setting the scene
Moderating the Townhall, Axel Threlfall, Editor-at-Large, Thomson Reuters, took the opportunity to state the importance of elevating the issue of marine litter in the run-up to UNEA-5 in February 2021. He posed the question to all participants, “We must ask is enough being done by governments and businesses to tackle marine litter in a timely way?” He acknowledged the need for robust science-based policies and multi-stakeholder engagement moving forwards.
Dr Maria Ivanova, Professor of Global Governance and Director of the Center for Governance and Sustainability, University of Massachusetts Boston , provided some historic context by explaining how the key pillars of the Stockholm Convention continue to ring true 50 years later, namely that humans can damage the biosphere and that states acting separately will produce planetary disaster.
Dr Ivanova explained that half of the world’s plastic was produced in the last 13 years and around 8.8 million tonnes washes into our oceans every year.
Hon. Ms. Barbara Creecy, Minister of Environment, Forestry and Fisheries, Republic of South Africa, stressed how the COVID-19 pandemic is bringing new plastic and chemical waste management challenges caused by large increases in Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and disinfectant products being used across the world.
Read UNEP article on ‘Waste management an essential public service in the fight to beat COVID-19’
Hon. Creecy pointed out the collective action African countries were taking on tackling single-use plastic and resource efficiency more widely. In November 2019, African environment ministers, convened by South Africa, met in Durban during the 17th Regular Session of AMCEN to make commitments on implementing a circular economy across the continent to address waste disposal and plastic pollution in particular.
H.E. Marta Eugenia Juarez Ruiz, Ambassador of Costa-Rica to Kenya and Country Permanent Representative to UNEP and UN Habitat, spoke to the multitude of interconnected environmental crisis we face and called for countries to follow in Costa Rica’s footsteps by addressing them as one. She cited the commitments made by Costa Rica to become the first carbon neutral country by 2021 and to reduce (and hopefully eliminate) the excessive, wasteful use of single-use plastic also by next year.
Kristal Ambrose, Founder and Director, Bahamas Plastic Movement, recounted her experience sailing across the Pacific Ocean in 2012 to study the Western Garbage Patch, which inspired her to set up the non-profit at home in the Caribbean. As a result of her community based action, earlier in 2020 seven Caribbean countries committed to banning Styrofoam and plastic bags.
“The COVID-19 pandemic presents an unprecedented opportunity to reset the global economy on a pathway towards a more sustainable pathway. African environment ministers remain committed to making sure that we continue with progress to reduce plastic waste”“
Hon. Ms. Barbara CreecyMinister of Environment, Forestry and Fisheries, Republic of South Africa
What needs to change?
CV Gunvor G Ericson, State Secretary to Minister for Environment and Climate, wanted to see the whole plastic life cycle taken into account in a global framework on marine plastics. One which would take a long-term approach on reducing production and consumption of plastic and creating effective waste management processes.
CV Ericson pointed to various national and supra-national agreements on plastics which were setting the right tone, such as the African ministers in Durban and a declaration made by Nordic countries last year calling for a global framework to tackle the plastic crisis in our oceans.
Rolph Payet, Executive Secretary, Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions, emphasized the importance and continued relevance of existing UN Multi-Lateral Agreements (MEAs) on transboundary waste management and made the case for using UNEA-5 as an opportunity to update them to address plastic pollution more specifically.
Mr Payet also acknowledged that as public awareness of marine plastic litter has increased thanks to its prominence in media reporting and in television documentaries, public pressure on governments to act remains high.
Alfred Ralifo, Manager, Asia Pacific’s Great Sea Reef Programme, WWF Pacific, highlighted the Pacific Regional Action Plan: Marine Litter 2018-2025 as an example of an international effort which could feed into a planet wide framework.
“Ultimately we need to align the agendas of countries, companies and citizen groups in setting up a global action plan that brings together and exceeds the sum of the local, state and national plans. UNEA-5 provides the platform for such an alignment for governance symbiosis.”
Dr Maria IvanovaProfessor of Global Governance and Director of the Center for Governance and Sustainability, University of Massachusetts Boston
“We need strong investments in the areas of waste management. This is an area which has been left behind in terms of technological innovations.”
Rolph PayetExecutive Secretary, Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions
Facilitating the change through technology and finance
IBM showcases digital platform on marine litter
Eugenie Mathieu, Senior SRI Analyst, Global Responsible Investment, Aviva Investors, is seeing first-hand the power of finance on putting pressure on multinational companies to reduce their plastic usage. By putting pressure on Unilever, Aviva has played a part in the company’s commitment to halve the amount of new plastic it uses by 2025.
A ‘super team’ from IBM presented a new revolutionary proof of concept project bringing together new data and cutting edge data analytics to understand marine plastics and create a unique AI driven multi-stakeholder digital platform – lead by UNEP through a collaboration between the Global Partnership on Marine Litter, and UN Science Policy Business Forum on the Environment.
Nicholas Holmes, Global Government CTO – IBM Data & AI Experts Labs and Learning, provided the rationale for using AI and machine learning to understand and present data on marine litter. He discussed that we have a great deal of data already out there on the issue but a platform such as this will allow anyone to learn about marine plastics and how to take action on it – whether a policy maker or a member of the public.
Kunal Sawarkar, Principal Data Scientist, IBM Data Science Elite, ran listeners through a draft version of the platform which uses citizen science data to help create a Baseline Marine Litter Density distribution across the world. This is vital to measure future progress and direct policy on marine plastic interventions, Mr Sawarkar explained.
Richard Darden, Chief engineer of Data and AI Expert Labs and Learning, IBM, demonstrated ‘Sam’ the humanoid AI generated face of the digital platform. Sam explained his purpose and invited the user to ask him anything about marine litter. Mr Darden explained that Sam provides an emotional connection with the user helping them better engage with this complex issue and understand what they can do.
Fabienne McLellan, Major Groups and Stakeholders representing Science and technology Major Groups and Co-Director International Relations, OceanCare, championed the role of citizen science in continuing to collect data on marine litter to inform policy and tools such as the pilot digital platform just demonstrated by IBM.
Raising the point that the most feasible and effective way to minimise plastic pollution is through prevention, rather than cure, Ms McLellen called for stringent upstream measures including market controls and binding implementation mechanism for producers.
“Data is wonderful but we all struggle with dealing with too much of it. IBM and our partners idea was to see how we can use innovation and digital tools to make us a little bit smarter, better and more capable at tackling these tricky problems.“
Nicholas HolmesGlobal Government CTO - IBM Data & AI Experts Labs and Learning
A unique opportunity to initiate robust policy action and strengthen multi-stakeholder engagement on eliminating marine plastics
World oceans face immediate threats from marine pollution and especially marine litter, plastics and microplastics, which according the studies by the UN Environment Programme and partners has risen significantly over the past decades.
Immediate effective measures by governments, industry and multiple stakeholders are required to counteract the deterioration of the health of the oceans.
The convening of UNEA 5 – the world’s highest-level decision-making body on the environment – offers a crucial opportunity for Member States to initiate robust policy action and strengthen multi-stakeholder engagement to this end.
Building on the strong political support of the past four sessions of the United Nations Environment Assembly and many expressions of the political will to support stronger global commitment on marine litter and microplastics over the past year, UNEA-5 comes at an important moment in time. Vital is the need to better understand the sources, pathways and impacts of litter in the marine environment for making evidence-based policy actions.
ANNOUNCING
Marine Litter Digital Platform
A joint collaboration between IBM and UN-SPBF, the world’s first digital platform on tackling marine plastic will be presented to the UNEA Bureau.
Speakers
Axel Threfall (moderator)
Maria Ivanova
Fabienne McLellan
Kristal Ambose
Rolph Payet
Nicholas Holmes
Richard Darden
H.E. Barbara Creecy
H.E. Marta Eugenia Juarez Ruiz
CV Gunvor G Ericson
Eugenie Mathieu
Alfred Ralifo
Kunal Sawarkar
To be addressed:
Key components
Using interactive tools, the session will be aimed at engaging participants on the following issues and questions:
The prerogative for urgent action by all actors: Understanding the Impact of Marine Litter including plastic litter and microplastics on marine ecosystems and life on Earth
How UNEA 5 can be a turning point: Towards a Stronger Global Response
How digital tools can connect data, action and transform our understanding and action on marine litter
How can business and industry become part of the solution? What are incentives for businesses to Turn Off the Plastics Tap and sign on to a Blue Economy?
What lessons can be learned from the way in which the global community has addressed the issue of marine litter over the past 5-6 years, for other pollutants like wastewater, which is also a pathway of marine litter, and nutrients?
Conclusions and Recommendations for Future Action
