Impacts of Marine Debris on Biodiversity: Current Status and Potential Solutions

Large quantities of debris can now be found in the most remote places of the ocean, and persist almost indefinitely in the environment. This represents a significant cause for concern, although much of this growing threat to biodiversity and human health is easily preventable with solutions readily available. The global impacts of marine debris on biodiversity and the urgency of action to prevent and mitigate adverse impacts were recognized by the latest meeting of the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice to the Convention on Biological Diversity. This lead to the adoption of several recommendations addressing the impacts of marine debris on marine and coastal biodiversity (CBD SBSTTA 16 Recommendation XVI/5), in line with the current efforts of Parties in achieving Aichi Biodiversity Targets on marine and coastal biodiversity, in particular Targets 6, 8 and 11.