Tag: biodiversity-loss

A global reporting and monitoring framework is sine qua non for the incoming global plastics treaty.

African pangolins continue to face an unprecedented threat from the transnational trafficking of their scales. This is primarily driven by demand from China, where the scales are used in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), both legally and illegally.

A global treaty (i.e. convention) on plastics will require financial resources to achieve its objectives, and many models exist in other multilateral environmental agreements from which lessons can be taken.

Abandoned, lost or otherwise discarded fishing gear, ‘ghost gear’ is a major contributor to marine plastic pollution and an ever-growing problem impacting marine resources, wildlife and habitats. However, the existing governance framework to address fishing gear requires significant improvement.

Virgin plastic production and consumption have reached unsustainable levels. Overproduction has meant inexpensive virgin plastic is used freely and inefficiently, with unfavourable economics for most recycling, leading to a stark discrepancy between how much plastic is produced and how much is recycled.

The toxic pollution resulting from rampant overproduction of virgin plastics and their lifecycles is irreversible, directly undermines our health, drives biodiversity loss, exacerbates climate change, and risks generating large-scale harmful environmental changes.