Plastic waste not only threatens the livelihoods of those who depend on marine resources for work, it can lead to a raft of health issues for people who consume seafood infested with toxic micro- and nano-plastics. The challenge of plastic waste – which has been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic – is a major part of the global pollution crisis, which alongside biodiversity loss and climate change, represent a triple planetary emergency that must be addressed by massive shifts in the way humanity utilizes the earth’s resources.
These knowledge products provide information on various impacts of marine litter and plastic pollution from climate change to human rights and explore resources which integrate (or give context to) an environmental human rights-based approach to the problem of plastic pollution prevention and management.
The factsheets can be used by national level decision makers to strengthen national legislation, strategies, plans, policies, monitoring, and reporting to prevent the harmful impacts of plastic pollution and marine litter. They are published by UNEP and were developed in collaboration with key stakeholders in the Pacific, the Center for International Environmental Law, the Political Ecology Research Centre, Massey University, and The University of Newcastle Australia's Pacific Node.
The Plastics Toolbox: Business, Human Rights, and the Environment (August/updated November 2021) was developed in collaboration with the Marine and Environmental Law Institute, Dalhousie University, Schulich School of Law.
