The fourth session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC-4), held this week in Canada, will discuss the draft terms of the Global Plastics Treaty, which the United Nations committed to deliver by the end of 2024.

Greenpeace is calling for the treaty to set a legally-binding target to reduce plastic production by at least 75% by 2040, followed by significant reductions in production year-on-year and eventually phase out plastic production entirely.

Greenpeace Australia Pacific Senior Oceans Campaigner Violette Snow said the Australian government must champion strong targets and focus on reducing plastic production.

“The INC-4 is a crucial meeting that could determine the role toxic plastic will play in the future of our planet, the health of our children and the stability of our climate. The clock is ticking. The Global Plastics Treaty is a once-in-a-generation opportunity – it can’t go to waste,” she said.

“Australia must stem the tide of plastic, starting with a strong, legally binding target to reduce plastic at its source. Australia can be a global leader by championing ambitious targets at the UN, and not bowing to petrostates trying to water down the treaty terms.”

Greenpeace is calling for the Global Plastics Treaty to end plastic pollution – from production to disposal – and to end single-use plastics to protect the environment and human health. 

“Australians know that life in plastic isn’t fantastic. Plastic pollution floods our planet, destroys biodiversity, kills our wildlife and worsens the climate crisis across the entire life of plastic – from extraction, production, packaging, distribution, incineration and dumping. The deadly cycle brought by runaway plastic production and use needs to stop for good, and a strong treaty will see to that,” Snow said.

“As part of the High Ambition Coalition to End Plastic Pollution, the Australian government must walk the talk and model high ambitions. We need more focus on rapidly phasing down plastic production, and less focus on band-aid solutions. While there is a place for recycling in a circular economy, we can’t rely on recycling our way out of the plastics crisis.”

—ENDS—

Notes: 

Photos can be found here

A media briefing of the INC-4 is attached here

Audio grabs from Violette Snow can be found here

For more information or to arrange an interview please contact Kimberley Bernard on +61 407 581 404 or kbernard@greenpeace.org

Adopted in June 2023, the UN Oceans Treaty is the most significant multilateral environmental deal since the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement and a vital tool to help reverse the ocean crisis. Australia joined dozens of other nations in signing the historic and legally-binding pact, but it must still be ratified by individual countries before it comes into effect.

The Treaty must enter in force by 2025 to keep the globally agreed target of protecting 30% of the oceans by 2030 within reach.

Palau’s ratification highlights Pacific nations’ continuing leadership on global ocean protection, and sends a strong signal for other countries, including Australia, to fast-track ratification and take action to deliver protected oceans sanctuaries where marine life can recover and thrive.

Greenpeace Australia Pacific senior campaigner Violette Snow said “The Global Oceans Treaty is a critical step forward in the fight to protect our oceans from the mounting threats of climate change, marine plastics and overfishing.”

“We congratulate Palau on becoming the first country to ratify the Global Oceans Treaty, a powerful tool to protect our oceans,” she said. 

“Australia’s leadership and cooperation with like-minded countries has seen a commitment to stronger protections for our oceans, but now the Australian government must back up words with action. 

“Lying between Australia and New Zealand, the Lord Howe Rise and South Tasman Sea have been identified as areas of ecological significance, but right now they’re under threat from harmful fishing practices.

“The race to protect our oceans is on. We urge Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek to follow Palau’s announcement and act just as swiftly to ratify the Treaty, and to follow through on its conservation leadership on the global stage.”

Palau is the first nation to officially ratify the treaty, after Chile last week approved their treaty legislation with a unanimous vote in their senate. 

—ENDS—

Notes to editors

In September 2023, Greenpeace International published a report setting out the political process to deliver protection for the global oceans. The report, ‘30×30: From Global Ocean Treaty to Protection at Sea’ explores how cumulative pressures on the high seas are increasing, and quantifies for the first time the growing fishing activity in areas earmarked for protection, using data from Global Fishing Watch.

Images for media use can be found here

We are living in a world that is being destroyed by throwaway plastic. Plastic pollution has flooded our planet, harming people’s health, accelerating social injustice, destroying biodiversity and fueling the climate crisis.

Science is only beginning to understand the long-term effects of plastic on human health, yet microplastics have been found in the air we breathe and the food we eat, and even in our organs and our blood. And communities on the frontlines of plastic production and waste are disproportionately affected by plastic pollution, social injustice,  and the climate crisis.

The fact is that 99% of plastic is made from oil and gas —  and big oil are making more and more each year. The full lifecycle of plastic harms livelihoods and the climate. Despite all of this, big oil, in league with big brands like Unilever, Nestlé and Coca-Cola, continue to promote false solutions and a throwaway single-use model where ‘convenience’ and corporate profits outweigh the cost to our communities.

But now, we have the opportunity to end the plastic crisis by pushing for a strong and ambitious Global Plastics Treaty that will end runaway plastic production and use. 

Governments around the world are now negotiating a Global Plastics Treaty – an agreement that could solve the planetary crisis brought by runaway plastic production.

A treaty that fails to deliver major reductions in plastic production and use will not solve the plastic crisis. Greenpeace, with our allies and supporters, demand an ambitious, legally-binding global plastics treaty that will cap and phase down plastic production and use, and ultimately end single-use plastic.

We demand a treaty that will keep oil and gas used to produce plastic in the ground and puts an end to big polluters’ relentless plastic production. The Global Plastics Treaty must be firmly rooted in a human rights-based approach that reduces inequalities between people, priorities on human health, protects the environment and ensures a just transition to a low-carbon, zero-waste, reuse-based economy that centres justice and the interests of communities most affected. A strong plastics treaty delivers a cleaner, safer planet for us and for future generations.

We know that the petrochemical industry, corporations and some governments will try to weaken the ambition of the Global Plastics Treaty, and here is where the battle truly begins. The Global Plastics Treaty is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to solve the plastics crisis. For the sake of our collective future, we must not waste this moment.

At the upcoming negotiations in coming years, we will show how an unstoppable global movement can achieve an ambitious Global Plastics Treaty that will turn off the plastics tap and finally, end the age of plastic – for our health, our communities, climate, and the planet.

Our planet’s oceans face a lot of danger from human activity. Industrial fishing, deep-sea mining, plastic pollution, and global warming are all affecting our blue planet.

Scientists have informed us that by 2030 we need to protect a third of the ocean if we are to avoid the worst effects of climate change. 30 x 30, to allow the ocean to heal.

Greenpeace has been conducting research in the Antarctic for presentation to UN meetings that have been taking place throughout the year. Our aim is to raise support for a Global Ocean Treaty that will see 30% of our oceans protected as marine sanctuaries.

In 2019, the Greenpeace ship Esperanza embarked on a pole-to-pole voyage to document human impact on our oceans. The final stop was to Antarctica in 2020, one of the places furthest from human civilisation. Even here, there were still clear impacts such as fishing tools and nets floating in the water.

Celebrating 3 years of work on this campaign, we took our supporters behind the scenes with a digital event in March this year. Journalist and activist Julia Zanolli was involved in the recent Greenpeace research expedition to the Antarctic. She said that due to the remote location of the Antarctic, Greenpeace is one of few organisations with the resources available to study this area.

“Sometimes people ask; what’s your relationship with scientists? How does it work? We pretty much give them a lift. We make sure they can reach places that they otherwise wouldn’t be able to,” she said at the digital event.

This year Greenpeace took scientists to remote areas in the Antarctic to research how the climate crisis and fishing is affecting penguin populations in these places, using a mix of drone technology and artificial intelligence in order to keep track of penguin numbers.

We also provided these scientists with submarines to help document important evidence found underwater. The team were able to dive in 12 different locations never seen before by humans. Providing a stable internet connection also proved essential to Greenpeace’s ability to relay information to the media and update the rest of the world on their findings.

As you can imagine, these technologies do not come cheap and the reason we can afford these assets is truly due to generous supporters like you who believe in our cause.

“These stories wouldn’t have gotten out if it wasn’t for Greenpeace and people like you supporting our work,” Julia said.

None of our actions would be possible without your generous support. It allows us to operate independently and strategically, to respond quickly to environmental news, and to showcase
inspiring stories of ordinary people taking a stand against climate change.

The crew of the Esperanza hold a banner reading “Thank you”, South Orkney Islands, Antarctica.

Our oceans are massive, and unlike most places on land, they don’t really have borders. Animals, water (and sadly now plastic) all move freely across our global oceans.

Because of this, some people have asked if ocean sanctuaries are an effective way of protecting our shared waters. 

Well, the short answer is yes! But if you want more evidence than that, here are four ocean sanctuaries from across the world that have made a huge difference.

1 – Monterey Bay, California

Monterey Bay is an enormous conservation success story. Fishing and hunting in these coastal waters drove some of its wildlife to the very brink of extinction. But, since the National Marine Sanctuary was established in 1992, the seas – and their wildlife – have bounced back in a phenomenal way. Now they are home to playful sea lions, majestic pelicans, and cute sea otters, all thriving on the rich waters full of underwater kelp forests.

Monterey Bay is also a global hotspot for whale-watching, as its food-laden waters attract migrating whales all year round, from splashy crowd-pleasing humpbacks, to the biggest of them all, the gigantic blue whale. Ecotourism and wildlife watching has given a new reason to protect this special place.

2 – Papahānaumokuākea marine national monument, Hawaii

Covering over 1.5 million square kilometres this massive ocean sanctuary in the middle of the Pacific Ocean was created by President George W Bush in 2006, and extended further by his successor Barack Obama – a fantastic display of leadership in ocean protection from both leaders.

At the time this was the largest marine protected area in the world and it is home to over 7,000 marine species – one in four of which are unique to the Hawaiian archipelago. This sanctuary gives refuge and protection to green sea turtles, the world’s most endangered duck, endangered Hawaiian monk seals, millions of seabirds, coral reefs as well as significant native Hawaiian cultural sites.

Included in this sanctuary is the famous remote coral island of Midway Atoll, a vital nesting site for thousands of ocean-wandering albatrosses.

3 – Lamlash Bay, Arran, Scotland

Good things come in small packages – in this case one square mile of protection. Lamlash Bay might not be world-famous yet, but its protected area, or ‘No Take Zone’, was hard-fought-for and won by years of community campaigning.

The islanders of Arran lobbied politicians tirelessly, undertook scientific studies, chatted to visiting tourists, and fought against vested interests to get the protected area created in beautiful Lamlash Bay. The rich sheltered waters in the bay are home to a wide variety of delicate seafloor plants and animals, which depend on beds of ‘maerl’, an odd type of hard seaweed that grows in the bay. The Islanders knew it was crucial to stop the area being dredged by heavy fishing gear to protect these maerl beds and the wildlife like octopus, scallops and fish that live amongst it.

Today the impacts of the Arran community are being felt farther away as their example of grass-roots campaigning serves as a lesson for politicians and other communities too.

4 – Ross Sea, Southern Ocean

Part of the Antarctic Ocean, the Ross Sea is home to orcas, penguins and seals. In 2017 this area finally became a protected sanctuary, giving some of the Antarctic’s wildlife a safe haven to feed, breed and thrive.

What if we did this everywhere?

These sanctuary success stories are a great reminder of what’s possible, but apart from the Ross Sea, they’re all within countries’ national waters. Meanwhile, most of the oceans beyond national boundaries are still unprotected. But now we have the opportunity to do so much more.

Scientists have drawn up a bold rescue plan for our oceans – and it’s brilliantly simple: we cover the planet in ocean sanctuaries, putting a third of the seas off-limits to fishing, mining, drilling and other destructive industries.

If the plan goes ahead, it’ll be one of the biggest conservation efforts in human history, creating millions of square kilometres of new protected areas.

Governments have started work on a Global Ocean Treaty at the UN, and if they get it right it’ll give us the legal tools we need to start creating these new ocean sanctuaries.

So this year, we’re going all-out to make sure that happens. Through the new Protect the Oceans campaign, people all over the world will be pushing for a strong Global Ocean Treaty.

Donate now to fund the campaign for a strong Global Ocean Treaty.

Under the restless surface of our seas, hundreds of miles from land, there’s a world of giants and hunters; ancient lifeforms and lost cities. 

These waters beyond national borders are home to creatures even more varied than in the tropical rainforests. They contain the highest and longest mountain range anywhere on our planet, and trenches deep enough to hold Mount Everest. They’re the highways for whales, turtles, albatross and tuna on their cross-planet migrations.

But from climate change and plastic pollution, to mining and overfishing, the threats facing our oceans are getting more urgent every day.

Now though, there’s a ray of hope. Governments are working on a treaty that could help put a third of our oceans off-limits to destructive industries. 

So this year, we’re going all-out to make sure they get it right. Through the new Protect the Oceans campaign, people all over the world will be pushing for a strong Global Ocean Treaty.

If we succeed, it’ll pave the way for a bold new ocean rescue plan that could see a third of our seas protected by 2030.

A voyage of discovery – and a call to action

The open oceans are some of the least studied – and least regulated places on Earth, and to properly protect them we need to know more about what’s happening out there.

To do that, we’re embarking on an ambitious voyage across the ocean, from the North Pole to the South Pole, working with scientists and experts to conduct crucial scientific research on the state of our oceans, to show the plight of at-risk wildlife and to witness these threats first hand, all to strengthen the case for a strong Global Ocean Treaty.

The first stop is the Arctic, where we’re working with an incredible group of different types of scientists to investigate the impacts of climate change on the Arctic ocean and what effect that is having on the region’s marine life.

On this expedition we will document a year in the life of our oceans, from a changing Arctic climate reducing sea ice habitats for polar bears, to the pervasive impact of plastic pollution on wildlife in the Sargasso Sea. Along the way we will encounter the unique wildlife of both poles, from humpback whales in the Arctic to the iconic penguins of the Antarctic. 

We will document and confront environmental destruction, from the plundering of the South Atlantic by illegal and unregulated industrial fishing vessels, to the deep sea mining companies threatening to destroy the Lost City, a unique seabed ecosystem of hydrothermal vents.

The ship: Greenpeace Esperanza

For this tough voyage, we’re using our largest and swiftest ship – the Esperanza. A former Russian fire-fighting vessel, Esperanza has spent the last 15 years fighting environmental emergencies for Greenpeace.

The team at sea needs as many people as possible on land to make sure their findings can’t be ignored. Will you join the campaign to #ProtectTheOceans?

From plastic straws, plastic bags, plastic packaging – plastic is everywhere and it’s scary. Why? Because plastic waste can take hundreds of years to break down, and it often ends up in the ocean and turns into microplastics.

Plastic has been found in the deepest, most remote parts of the ocean. Seabirds, whales and turtles have been found with plastic in their tums which can cause death as they can’t digest real food properly. 

And the damage continues. Plastic breaks into tiny pieces called microplastics that end up in our food chain (and in our own bodies!) via fish and even sea salt that we consume.

This isn’t just a matter of individual people stopping using plastic or recycling more. We need to end plastic at the source: the corporations that create plastic waste.

How we’re tackling plastic pollution

Greenpeace around the globe is calling on the polluting corporations that produce BILLIONS of tonnes of plastic bottles and waste every year. Sign our petition now to demand these businesses phase out single- use plastic and switch to refill and reuse today.

Every second breath we take comes from the ocean. Healthy oceans are the life support system for our planet, providing 97 percent of the Earth’s liveable habitat and a home to more than 700,000 different species of marine life.

Marine ecosystems are being degraded – and we need to urgently protect them.

Ocean scientists believe there could be anywhere between 500,000 and 5 million species in the ocean that we haven’t even discovered. The oceans are vital to human health as well, providing food, enjoyment and livelihood to billions of people. In our region, Pacific Island states are deeply connected and inextricably reliant on ocean health for income and food security, while Australia’s ocean territory is one of the largest and most biodiverse of any country in the world.

Imagine a world where sustainable, small-scale, and subsistence fishers are given greater rights and access to the ocean to feed communities that rely on it, than the industrial-scale fishing industries that dominate the global consumer seafood market. A world where a third of the world’s oceans are protected from industrial activity to build resilience against a changing climate, and ensure species rebound and flourish into the future.

To support people, fight climate breakdown and save wildlife we need to protect the oceans with a strong Global Ocean Treaty that allows at least 30% of the oceans to be fully protected by 2030. This August the UN has the opportunity to protect the oceans. Will you sign our petition asking Australia, Pacific nations, and other world governments to push for a strong Global Ocean Treaty?

There has never been a more important time to step up our efforts to protect our oceans.

A growing human population and expanding culture of consumerism, is putting ever-increasing pressure on marine ecosystems. To meet this demand, the seafood industry is engaged in a destructive race to fish, where sustainability, and fairness is put aside in favour of maximum profits. The depletion of fish populations and habitat destruction is having a devastating impact on our ocean ecosystems and the hundreds of millions of people who rely on fish for food and livelihoods. Largely unexploited until very recently, the high seas and deep seas have become the extremes at which the increasing race for resources and commodification of nature is playing out.

Meanwhile, empty oceans are at risk of becoming dead oceans. Warming seas and ocean acidification due to climate change are compounded by pollution from industrial run-off and billions of tonnes of discarded plastics. If oceans die they stop providing us with all of the functions they currently support that are critical to life on earth – oxygen production, the storing and cycling of vast amounts of carbon that are critical in regulating our climate, food for millions and other myriad but essential, life-giving processes.

We are bearing witness to the mass extinction of sea life throughout our oceans. Overfishing, greenhouse gas emissions and mass single use plastic production are only some of the causes which all they all have one thing in common – us. The scientific community have said that the rate of  extinctions is the worst recorded since the extinction of the dinosaurs, but it’s not too late to turn this around and find solutions that would allow sealife to thrive again. Together, we can find ways to keep relying on oceans while depending on them and respecting them and the sea life that lives in them.

Join the fight to protect marine life

Protecting our oceans has always been one of Greenpeace’s core goals. Having healthy oceans is a core priority as they are intertwined with the prospering of people worldwide, in terms of food, health, tourism as well as leisure.

This is why we campaign to stop plastics ending up in our oceans. As plastics are produced daily in such enormous quantities, we simply can’t rely on recycling alone. Corporations guilty of such waste are listening. And they will change their methods when people show they have had enough of their plastic waste. That’s why we are demanding these big corporations to reduce now their plastic footprint. More specifically, to stop producing excessive plastic packaging that will last thousands of years, designed to be used only once, then thrown away. Single-use plastics cannot be an option if we want to keep our oceans alive and healthy.

To protect our oceans, we are also pushing to create a global network of ocean sanctuaries. Currently, less than 2 percent of all the oceans across the world are currently protected by law. If we want to give marine life a fighting chance, we need to drastically expand their protected areas. We are fighting to create ocean sanctuaries in a 30 percent of the world’s oceans by 2030.

These areas would be protected from human exploitation, meaning any kind of extraction or degradation (fishing, mining, waste disposal) would be forbidden, allowing species to recover.

But even if we manage to protect these large stretches of ocean, we can’t let the unprotected areas get left behind. In addition to the sanctuaries, we need to implement global sustainable fishing practices. The current intensive fishing activities are disrupting marine ecosystems around the world and negatively impact fishing communities. At such scale, bycatch kills around 63 billion pounds of sea creatures every year. Forced labor and human trafficking are also dire problems in the fishing industry, especially on fishing fleets. That’s why we’re campaigning against any type of abusive fishing activities including destructive and illegal fishing.

If you would like to learn more about our campaigns to protect the oceans, make sure to read the resources listed below.