A historic moment to beat plastic pollution

Editor's note: Decision Makers is a global platform for decision makers to share their insights on events shaping today's world. Ban Ki-moon was the eighth secretary-general of the United Nations between 2007 and 2016. The article reflects the author's views and not necessarily those of CGTN.

In just over two months, world governments will convene in Geneva to finalize a global legally binding treaty to combat the scourge of plastic pollution, including in our rivers, coastal waters, and oceans. 

Its goals are extremely popular: 9 out of 10 people worldwide want to do just that. At the same time, thousands of businesses and financial institutions want the treaty to be realized too. 

But, like any high-stakes international negotiation that requires a global consensus, getting there will be no small feat. Indeed, as negotiations unfold, countries will pore over every detail. Considerations – spanning economics, science, technology, and the diverse social and cultural context countries bring to the table – could make or break the historic agreement.

Yet citizens outside the negotiation room have the power to make their voices heard, bringing a deal closer. This World Environment Day (June 5), I have been joining hundreds of millions of people from communities across the world in calling for collective action to tackle plastic pollution.

During my two terms as Secretary-General of the United Nations, I learned that no wall is sufficiently soundproof, and no government can remain indifferent to the voices of millions demanding principled change. We're facing an all-of-society problem and beating plastic pollution will require an all-of-society effort. This year's World Environment Day will mobilize – at a global scale – policymakers, civil society, the private sector, the scientific community, youth, the media, and others to make it known that the time to defeat plastic pollution is now.

Looking back, the first two decades of my life were largely free of plastic pollution. That is the case for those like me who grew up before the 1960s, when the first scientific observations of plastic pollution in the marine environment were made.

Today, it is hard to believe that many landscapes worldwide were once pristine environments, free of plastic pollution. However, by 2060, without ambitious action, countries might witness a drastic tripling of the plastic waste there is today, to more than a billion metric tons per year. We urgently need to reflect on what this would mean for generations to come. My grandchildren still enjoy some slivers of nature unscarred by plastic pollution. But unless the world acts now, their children may not.

On our current trajectory, global plastic consumption will nearly triple from 460 million tonnes to 1.231 billion  tonnes in 2060 compared to 2019. In such a scenario, once pristine, scenic landscapes will be buried under dangerous plastic. Biodiversity will suffer, and planet-warming emissions will rise. And human health will continue to be impacted.

Scientific evidence shows the ubiquity of microplastics today, from bustling metropoles to isolated tropical islands to the Arctic. They are in children's lungs and brains all over the world. They are in breast milk, in drinking water, and in the air we breathe. Even as we speak, microscopic plastic particles are likely flowing in your bloodstream. We don't fully know the full impacts of these microplastics on our bodies, but it's clear they are toxic and do not belong there. 

My childhood memories were shaped in the green valleys and mountains of South Korea. Back then, we didn’t know the many curses of plastic pollution. We also could not foresee the many blessings it brought – to multiple industries, to medical procedures, and to lightweight packaging.

Ending plastic pollution is, therefore, a complex endeavor. Yet, I am hopeful. Because this is a problem we can fix – we already know how to fix it. We need elevated cooperation at all levels.

Countries and local governments are already forging a different relationship with plastic – from Indian and French producer-responsibility laws to Canada's city-level reusable container programs, to limitations on single-use plastics across much of Africa. Jeju, the biggest island in the Republic of Korea and the venue of this year's World Environment Day, declared a vision to become free of plastic pollution by 2040.

On a global level, adopting a comprehensive circular approach can slash plastic pollution in oceans by over 80 percent by 2040, saving governments billions of U.S. dollars in costs by reducing waste, improving resource efficiency, and avoiding the negative impacts of pollution.

In 2016, the Paris Agreement on Climate Change was signed amid significant global challenges – a large-scale refugee crisis, ISIS terror and atrocities, and an economy that had barely recovered from a global recession. Governments today may also be preoccupied with challenges beyond plastic pollution. Environmental problems are sometimes easy to put on the back burner, only to later evolve into crises.

Had we tackled climate change earlier in the 20th century, when it first became known, it would have been far less daunting now. The urgency to address plastic pollution is greater than ever – it is an environmental, health, and moral imperative to do so.

In Paris, knowing the world was watching helped world leaders make historic, albeit difficult, choices. Today, the future is calling us to beat plastic. If we mobilize, en masse, they will listen. 

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