Honorable heads of state,

Our oceans face a growing pollution crisis. About 8 million metric tonnes (Mt) of plastics waste end up in the ocean every year. There are already probably 150 million metric tons of plastic in the oceans because this problem was ignored for decades. We urgently need a UN agreement to end plastics leakage into the seas by 2030.

Marine plastics pollution has serious consequences for people’s well-being and their livelihoods. And it also has devastating impacts on life in our oceans – causing injury and death to fish, sea turtles, whales, birds, coral reefs and much more.

Every single country is part of this plastics crisis. And every single one must be part of the solution: we need a united global response, with the world’s governments made accountable for ending marine plastics pollution.

That’s why we, the people of the world, ask you to create a global and legally binding UN agreement to stop the leakage of plastics into our oceans by 2030. The agreement should:

• set strict goals for pollution reduction in each UN member state,
• instruct each state to create national action plans to meet these goals.

The plastics crisis in our oceans was created in a single lifetime and can be ended in a single decade. If we act now, together.