Global ocean initiative Back to Blue has engaged stakeholders across the UN system, academia, finance and the wider industry to develop a blueprint addressing marine chemical pollution. To close the gap and ensure the world meets the UN’s Ocean Goal for the decade, the roadmap recommends the establishment of a high-level multistakeholder coordinating taskforce by 2026, which will support decision-makers, investors and scientists in finding solutions to chemical pollution in oceans. The initiative also intends to publish a global marine pollution assessment and action plan every five years, starting in 2030. “We are in a make-or-break decade for oceans,” said Professor Elsie Sunderland, Environmental Scientist at Harvard University and Back to Blue Ambassador. “While we have seen progress on a number of ocean and other climate issues, chemical pollution is perilously falling under the radar, mixing with the impacts of climate change to create a calamitous concoction that is polluting our natural world.” Generating data and research that will inspire government action on chemical pollution before the impacts become irreversible is critical, Sunderland added.
