Professor Richard Thompson, a marine litter expert, says delegates must act decisively to ‘look next generation in the eye’
Delegates at the UN plastic pollution treaty talks in Geneva must secure an ambitious global agreement so they can look future generations in the eye, one of the world’s leading marine litter experts has said.
Prof Richard Thompson, who was named one of Time’s 100 most influential people this year for his groundbreaking work on plastic pollution, said decisive action was needed to protect human health and the planet.
He spoke on Monday as delegates from more than 170 countries prepared to meet in Geneva to bridge what have become deep divisions over whether limits on plastic production are included in a final treaty.
Last November, talks in Busan, South Korea, to secure a global treaty to end plastic pollution broke down without agreement. More than 100 countries support legally binding global reductions in plastic production and the phasing out of certain chemicals and single-use plastic products.
