UN General Assembly
2019

In the Croatian part of the Adriatic Sea, 97 per cent of beach water is of exceptional quality. We do not take that for granted, nor can we allow ourselves to do so. That is why more and more local communities are organizing beach clean-ups and encouraging tourists to take part in those activities as well. From this rostrum, I encourage everyone to please stop throwing waste into our oceans and rivers. Our own future is at stake. I spoke last year (see A/73/PV.8) about the Ocean Cleanup project, the first feasible method to rid the world’s oceans of plastic and remove 50 per cent of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch in just five years. The media has named it Pac-Man, referring to a popular video game. I spoke about the inventor of this method, the brilliant young Croatian scientist living in the Netherlands, Boyan Slat. But what we need is more deeds like that, not just words. The clock is ticking.