MARINE CHEMICAL POLLUTIONChemical pollution of land, air, rivers, and watersheds has been a persistent issue for decades, occasionally prompting decisive action. However, only recently has the extent of chemical pollution become more evident. The Invisible Wave, published by Back to Blue in 2022, highlighted the problem of marine chemical pollution to policymakers, governments, the chemicals industry, the wider business community, the finance sector, civil society, and consumers. Now, A Global Ocean Free of the Harmful Impacts of Pollution: A Roadmap for Action, sets out a pathway to address it.
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In a May 2024 report by the Royal Academy of Engineering, a group of top scientists in the UK issued a warning about the growing public health risk from human faeces in the country’s rivers. The contents of raw sewage include bacteria, viruses, harmful chemicals such as PFAS and microplastics. Meanwhile, associated health risks include bacterial infections and viruses such as hepatitis A.
Pharmaceutical drugs are becoming more ubiquitous as access to medicines improves worldwide and millions of tonnes are produced annually. Active ingredients found in prescription medications, over-the-counter remedies and veterinary treatments have led to significant advancements in human and animal health.
Ocean pollution threatens ecosystems, human health, and economies, yet our understanding of its impact is surprisingly limited. Pollution interacts with climate change and nature loss to form a ‘triple planetary crisis’.
The ocean plays a vital role in Earth’s life support system, and its natural assets are indispensable to industries both on land and at sea. A growing cohort of businesses and investors appreciate that their commercial resilience is closely tied to natural capital.
Only bold and sweeping reforms will bend the plastic consumption curve. Achieving a reduction in plastic pollution will require all stakeholders–from the petrochemical companies to the consumers–to control the crisis. A piecemeal approach won’t work.
A global movement encouraging businesses and financial institutions to consider their impacts on nature is gathering momentum, and the Taskforce on Nature-Related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) has emerged as the leading framework for organisations to assess and disclose their nature-related financial risks and opportunities.
A zero-pollution ocean will only be possible if policymakers, business leaders and investors have access to sufficient evidence to evaluate the scope, scale and impact of marine pollution and use this to take action.
Plastic treaty negotiators must carefully examine the role of chemicals in the transition to a circular plastics economy.
At a time when the world’s population is growing and demand for food increasing, agricultural practices are taking a heavy toll on marine environments.
Plastic waste such as straws, bags and bottles are the most visible culprits of ocean pollution. Less understood and monitored are the chemicals that seep into marine ecosystems, and the industrial activities they come from.
In the 1950s, plastics and their requisite chemicals were hailed as miraculous emblems of progress for their role in modernising everyday life. However, we have gradually begun to recognise the consequences of ubiquitous chemical exposures on human health and the ecosystems we depend upon.
Economist Impact’s World Ocean Initiative imagines an ocean in robust health, and with a vital economy. Year-round and at our flagship World Ocean Summit, we foster a global conversation on the greatest challenges facing the seas, inspiring bold thinking, new partnerships and the most effective action to build a sustainable ocean economy.
With less than ten years to achieve the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals, there is a renewed urgency to examine global systems and balance human aspirations with the planet’s ability to sustain them. This is why Economist Impact has launched The Sustainability Project, a content platform and community hub combining insights, innovation and influence. Our aim is to convene and engage global stakeholders who have the power to bring real change.
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Continue reading by downloading the full report: THE INVISIBLE WAVE: GETTING TO ZERO CHEMICAL POLLUTION IN THE OCEAN
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