Nearly 6 billion tons of plastic waste pollute the planet. While public policy and attention have focused on climate change, plastic waste pollutes rivers, contaminates the ocean, accumulates on beaches, and breaks down into microplastic and nanoplastic particles that disrupt ecosystems, enter food webs, and are consumed by people. Relentless increases in production are the main driver: global plastic output has grown 200-fold from 2 million tons in 1950 to more than 400 million tons today, and is on track to double again by 2040. Plastics harm human health at every stage of the plastic life cycle, and diseases caused by plastics result in annual economic losses of $1.2 trillion.
Plastic pollution is a pervasive global challenge and disproportionately harms the world’s poorest nations. In March 2022, the UN Environment Assembly resolved to develop a legally binding instrument on plastic pollution by 2024. Join us for a discussion on the need and rationale for a Global Plastics Treaty, as we look to the fourth session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee later this month.
Keynote Speaker
H.S.H. Prince Albert II, Sovereign Prince of Monaco (recorded remarks)
Featured Speakers
Monica Arienzo, Associate Research Professor of Hydrology, The Desert Research Institute
Monica Arienzo, PhD is an Associate Research Professor in the Division of Hydrologic Sciences at the Desert Research Institute. In her research, Monica uses chemical tools to understand how humans impact the environment. After years of studying caves in the Bahamas and ice cores from Antarctica, now she studies microplastics found in snowy peaks, downstream lakes and rivers, and to drinking water taps around the world
Philip Landrigan, Director, Global Observatory on Planetary Health, Boston College
Philip Landrigan, MD, MSc, is a pediatrician and epidemiologist. He directs the Program for Global Public Health and the Common Good at Boston College and also acts as Medical Consultant for the Human Health Center at the Centre Scientifique de Monaco. His research examines the impacts on children’s health of toxic environmental hazards and more recently has expanded to examine planetary threats– climate change, pollution and biodiversity loss. Since 2019, Dr. Landrigan has led the Monaco Commission on Human Health and Ocean Pollution, and he is Chair of the Minderoo-Monaco Commission on Plastics and Human Health. He is a member of the US National Academy of Medicine.
Dacie Meng, Policy Director for North America, The Ellen MacArthur Foundation
Dacie Meng is the Policy Director for North America at the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, a global non-profit committed to creating a circular economy that delivers better outcomes for people and the environment. She focuses on the role that government and policy can play in accelerating the transition to a circular economy. She contributes to the Foundation’s work toward an ambitious legally binding instrument on plastic pollution.
Moderator
Carolyn Gruber, Fellow and Deputy Director, Environmental Security Program
Gruber most recently served as a Foreign Affairs Officer with the Office of Marine Conservation in the Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs at the U.S. Department of State. She worked primarily on international fisheries management in the Eastern and Western Pacific Ocean, Latin America, and the Caribbean. Her portfolio included serving as a U.S. delegate to the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission and the Western and Central Atlantic Fisheries Commission.