Sunday, June 16, 2019

G-20 urges ‘voluntary action’ on marine plastic crisis but fails to agree on common approach

a close up of a toy lying on a dirt road: Garbage on Henderson Island in the South Pacific Ocean.

Simon Denyer-

16Jun 2019

, Japan — Environment ministers from the Group of 20 on Sunday recognized an urgent need to tackle the marine plastic litter that is choking the world’s oceans, but failed Sunday to agree on concrete measures or targets to phase out single-use plastics.

More than 8 million tons of plastic are dumped into the world’s oceans every year, equivalent to a garbage truck’s worth every minute, and by 2050 there will be more plastic in the oceans by weight than fish, scientists predict.

But agreeing on a common approach to the problem has proved problematic, with the United States blocking demands to set a global target to significantly reduce or phase out single-use plastics.

‘‘Marine litter and especially marine plastic litter and microplastics, is a matter requiring urgent attention given its adverse impacts on marine ecosystems, livelihoods and industries including fisheries, tourism and shipping, and potentially on human health,’’ environment ministers from the G-20 said on Sunday.

The ministers said they were ‘‘determined to drive measures to resolve this issue.” But they failed to agree on any firm commitments, talking only of ‘‘encouraging voluntary actions’’ by G-20 members ‘‘in accordance with national policies.’’

The issue of marine plastic pollution has become an increasing hot diplomatic topic over the past year, and there have been calls for collective action at G-20, Group of Seven, and United Nations forums.

The European Union aims to phase out single-use plastics by 2030 and make all packaging reusable or recyclable.

Countries at a UN Environment Assembly in Nairobi in March pledged to significantly reduce the manufacture and use of single-use plastics by 2030 — apart from the United States, which spent two weeks watering down the proposals before signaling its rejection of the declaration on the final day.