Known as “Mermaid tears” or industrial plastic granules (IPG), tiny toxic plastic pellets (nurdle) is another source of marine plastic litter. In contrast to single use plastic, these little plastic beads are extremely small in size and make ocean clean-up activities challenging.
Though being one of the sources of marine pollution, the devastating impact of nurdles on marine life and humans is often overlooked. Once in ocean, nurdles may also enter the food chain through the fish and seafood we eat, and even end up in human blood (first detected in 2022).
Plastic Soup Foundation reports that around 230 000 tons of it ends up in the ocean, whereas given its size, it becomes almost impossible to fully remove, once in environment. If cleaning up activities are practically less effective, prevention should be the key.
What efforts of international society do you find the most appropriate to address this problem?

Despite its small population, about 11,000 inhabitants, the Territory of Wallis and Futuna is strongly impacted by marine litter, as all the Pacific islands.

Marine litter, including micro-plastics, has an impact on aquatic life and fish caught along the island's shores, and therefore on the economic resources of the Territory.

Thus, the FAIVA TAUTAI association of professional fishermen of Wallis, with the support of the Direction des services de l’agriculture, de la forêt et de la pêche de Wallis et Futuna, participated in the International Coastal Clean-up Day 2022 by organising a clean-up campaign of the islet Faioa located South of the Territory.

This islet is uninhabited but nevertheless, the volunteers collected, besides plastic bottles and bags, gas bottles, neon lamps, shoes, toothbrushes, house insulation materials, etc.

Here is the link to the video produced following the clean-up campaign.

If heaven on earth exists, it is on the small islands. Small islands are still one of the most popular destinations for travelling. People visit them to experience clean beaches, crystal clear water, exotic nature, and hospitality.

Around two thirds of the SIDS` population is employed in service industry. Like many other SIDS in the Caribbean, economy of Antigua and Barbuda is shifting from an agriculturally based model to a service based one, mainly dominated by the tourism sector, which contributes around 61.3% to their GDP (World Bank, 2022). Unfortunately, like other SIDS, Antigua and Barbuda is facing the problem of marine plastic, which affects all the spheres of life and economy. One of the impacts on tourism from marine litter comes from the polluted beaches and coastal areas, which may negatively reflect in tourists’ willingness to visit the country.

Comprehensive overview on economic impact of plastic pollution on tourism (IUCN, 2022) provides that the potential percentage of tourists who would no longer be willing to visit the country if all plastics accumulated on beaches is estimated to be between 82.4% and 97%. Providing two different scenarios of plastic accumulation from 2023 to 2040 the estimated direct impact (including revenue loss in fishery) in present value is between USD 79,445,037 and USD 191,567,014.
Follow the link to explore similar studies for Grenada and Saint Lucia.

I wish to all members of this group a wonderful plastic free year 2023.

Let's stay on track: REFUSE, REDUCE, REUSE, RECYCLE

Plastic pollution is now undeniable and its effects are visible everywhere. But it has not always been like this.

In 1971, marine biologist Edward Carpenter made a shocking discovery, finding small bits of plastics floating thousands of miles off the east coast of America, in the Atlantic Ocean.

More than 50 years later he tells the story of how he had to fight hard to get the scientific world to take notice of his discovery.

Watch the video to find out more!

Half of all plastic produced is used once and then thrown away, ending up in landfills or unregulated dumps or burnt. It can degrade into microplastics which cause further serious ecological problems.

Plastics are everywhere and the more we know about their effects the more inclined we will be to something about it. Great article here by Marianne Lehnis, published on Forbes.com, exploring the scale of the problem but also some of the initiatives to deal with it.

UNEP’s ISLANDS Programme is working on plastics too in 33 SIDS around the world boosting national and international recycling efforts and raising awareness on how to reduce the plastic burden in SIDS.

I came across this article in my news feed on the way to the office this morning and decided to share.

Two green sea turtles rescued from the fishing nets in the ocean in Argentine, were released back to the water near San Clemente after plastic detox. Plastic contents were found in the turtles` excrements and it took a while to have them treated with vitamins, iron, and a mix of antibiotics! I took a minute to find out what green turtles normally eat and was appalled with the statistics.

Green turtles (Chelonia mydas) are known as world`s largest hard-shelled turtles, live in the coastal areas of over 140 countries. Being herbivorous, seagrasses constitute the main part of their essential diet, and this is what gives their fat (not the shell itself) green color and therefore they are being called green turtles. However, the reality is that over 52% of world`s species of all sea turtles end up eating plastic or other human induced litter (Dr. Qamar Schuyler, 2015), while around 62% of green turtles eat plastic mistaking it with algae. WWF reports that ingesting even one item of plastic can be lethal in 22% of cases. In case of survival, continuous consumption of plastic may result in slower reproduction rates.

https://www.uq.edu.au/news/article/2015/09/world%E2%80%99s-turtles-face…
https://www.worldwildlife.org/stories/what-do-sea-turtles-eat-unfortuna…

Greetings!

I am new in this group, so let me introduce myself - I am Anastasiya from Uzbekistan and serve as a Senior Project Assistant to GGKP. I will be supporting
"Implementing Sustainable Low and Non-Chemical Development in Small Island Developing States (ISLANDS)" Programme funded by GEF.

I am very excited to join Green Forum, share and learn from experience of other members!

Pacific Large Ocean, Small Islands Developing States (PSIDS) Raise their Voices at the UN Ocean Conference in Lisbon.

During the first interactive panel on marine pollution, Prime Minister of Tonga, Hon. Siaosi Sovaleni, who spoke on behalf of PSIDS, stressed the need of tackling plastics pollution through a global agreement covering the whole life cycle of plastics.

“We are deeply concerned about compounding risks due to the accelerating rate of toxic plastic production and consumption and we strongly urge support for the development of National Plastic Prevention Plans with measurable and time-bound targets and consider supporting legislation to phase out problematic plastics,” said Prime Minister Sovaleni.

The Pacific islands region is grossly and disproportionately affected by the impacts of plastic pollution - but plastics is a threat everywhere on the planet. To all our community members:
- How is plastics pollution worsening your quality of life?
- How do you think we should address this issue globally?
- Which actions you take on your daily life to reduce plastics consumption?

For the second year, A Vaka Heke Paddling Association from Wallis and Futuna participated in the International Coastal Clean-up Day 2022.
Unfortunately the amount of waste collected is still significant (393kg of waste collected in 2021 and 594kg of waste collected in 2022)!