Early this morning, U.N. member states gathered in Nairobi, Kenya as part of the United Nations Environment Assembly 5.2 committed to develop an internationally legally binding resolution to tackle plastic pollution. The monumental agreement will be developed within two years, and it will include binding waste reduction targets and establish monitoring systems and a new global scientific advisory board.
“This agreement will help us all to work in a united and coordinated way to tackle a global, unprecedented and transborder problem,” says Anna Posacka, Chief Scientific Officer of Ocean Diagnostics. “It is a crucial step to advance solutions across the entire life cycle of plastics.” Two of the company’s scientific advisors, Dr. Kara Lavender Law and Dr. Chelsea Rochman, had also commented.
Plastic pollution has been found in every environment on Earth, threatening planetary and human health. Estimates suggest that global annual plastic emissions may reach 53 million metric tons per year by 2030. Researchers at Ocean Diagnostics have found microplastics as far as the Arctic and the species that thrive in it. The accumulating evidence on plastics and associated chemicals making their way into food, air, water, soil and human bodies in recent years is further alarming.
“There is no doubt that we need urgent and global-level action, but informed decisions on plastics around the world will require a better understanding of their sources, fate and ultimate sinks. At Ocean Diagnostics, we believe that technology and innovation will be crucial to overcome the current hurdles of collecting comparable and timely plastic data.”
Ocean Diagnostics develops technologies that capture the diversity of plastics and microplastics in the environment and partners with institutions, communities and governments to generate baseline data, inform solutions and monitor for change.
“We support a legally binding treaty and monitoring systems that will allow us to better track plastic pollution and assess the progress of our local and global efforts.”
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