We celebrate World Oceans Day (8 June) to remind everyone of the major role the oceans have in everyday life. Action focus for 2018 is preventing plastic pollution and encouraging solutions for a healthy ocean.
The Mediterranean Sea is one of the areas most affected by marine litter in the world with plastic comprising up to 95% of waste accumulated on shorelines, the ocean surface, or sea floor. Approximately 0.5 billion litter items are currently lying on the Mediterranean Seafloor while concentrations floating plastic are comparable with those in the five oceanic garbage patches reaching over 600 items per square kilometer.
Aiming for the elimination of single-use plastic by 2023, the UN Environment Clean Seas campaign is urging governments to pass plastic reduction policies; industry to minimize plastic packaging and redesign products; and consumers to change their throwaway habits. So far, forty countries, including France, Israel, Italy, Malta, and Montenegro, have joined the campaign which has also gathered over 87 130 individual pledges for action.
We support the launch of the WWF Med PO report “Out of the plastic trap – Saving the Mediterranean from plastic pollution”, which is happening today - World Oceans Day, with some suggested media posts and images.
