SCIENCE DIVISIONBRIEF 001 • 2017

SustainableDevelopment
Goals

Oceans: Marine pollution
Policy Brief

About

Keep the oceans clean

The Sustainable Development Goals Policy Briefs
highlight a hotspot of environmental change. The
evidence provided builds on the scientific data andinformation hosted on the online platform Environment
Live and is complemented by stories collected aroundthe world. Readers may find out what is happening totheir changing environment and the consequences ofeveryday choices; and think about future directions
for policy in the framework of the 2030 Agenda for
Sustainable Development.
Marine pollution is the result of deliberate or accidental
discharge of untreated wastewater, dumping of solid
wastes and other polluted runoff from a variety ofland-based activities directly into our rivers and coastalwaters. Healthy oceans are productive oceans, andresilient marine and coastal ecosystems are essential toachieve sustainable development.
UN Environment as Custodian Agency forsome key indicators related to “Goal 14
Conserve and sustainably use the oceans,seas and marine resources for sustainable
development”
14.1.1 Index of Coastal Eutrophication (ICEP) and
Floating Plastic debris Density
14.2.1 Proportion of national Exclusive Economic Zones
managed using ecosystem based approaches
14.5.1 Coverage of protected areas in relation to marineareas

An integrated
approach toaddress pollution
from land toocean is needed tosustainably manage
marine and coastal
resources

Addressing marine pollution helps achieving:• SDG 2 Zero Hunger• SDG 3 Good Health and Well-Being• SDG 6 Clean Water and Sanitation

Joining the #CleanSeas
campaign accelerates
the global efforts totackle marine litter• SDG 12 Responsible Consumption and Production• SDG 14 Life Below Water• SDG 15 Life on Land1

Sustainable Development Goals | Policy Brief

SCIENCE DIVISION

Facts and figures

ActionTowards solutions . . .

Main contributors to marine pollution

109+37% increase in domestic material consumption in 20 years
322 million tonnes of plastic produced in 2015of municipal wastewater produced annually where in many

270 billion m3 parts of the world as much as 80% is discharged untreatedof fertilizers per hectare of arable land consumed in 2013 with low

123 kg use efficiency, losses to the environment can be as high as 80%116chemical and oil spills occurred worldwide as a resultof industrial accidents between 1967 and 2016

> 8 million
tonnes ofplastic leakinto the ocean
every year

Ingestion and entanglementfrom marine litter harms over
600 marine species, of which
15% are endangered

143+Countries have joined
18 Regional Seas Conventions
and Action Plans, of which

51230

Nutrient pollution from excess fertilizers andmanure are the primary sources of nitrogenloads in marine ecosystems, causing anover-enrichment process called eutrophication.
This involves a shift from seagrasses tofast-growing harmful algae that consume oxygenand can cause fish and invertebrate deaths.

Countries committed to a
Global Programme of Action
for the Protection of theMarine Environment
from Land-Based Activities

already have an indicator-based
monitoring mechanism in place
already issued Protocols or Annexes
on Land-Based Sources of pollution

Countries already joined
the #CleanSeas campaign
on marine litter. . . for achieving

16%of Large Marine Ecosystems at high risk ofeutrophication. Most of these are located inWestern Europe, Southern and Eastern Asiaand the Gulf of Mexico

Wastewatertreatment

Recoveryof nutrients
Fertilizer
use efficiency

13%

45%

National Exclusive
Marine key biodiversity
Economic Zones protectedareas protected

Improved plastic
management
Reduction ofsingle-use plastic

Sources: CRED/EM-DAT (2013), FAO (2011), FAO (2013), PlasticsEurope (2016),UNEP (2017), UNEP/RSP (2017), UNEP-WCMC (2017)”

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Sustainable Development Goals | Policy Brief

Initiatives on the ground

Battling coastal
eutrophication in thePhilippines

Going straight to the source in the USA
North America continues to implement a series of initiatives to monitor marine pollutionand address the introduction of pollutants into the oceans, including identifying
their main sources. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) works with
the International Maritime Organization to develop and implement legal standards
that address vessel-source pollution and ocean dumping. It also partners with theCaribbean Environment Programme to reduce land-based sources of pollution in
the Gulf of Mexico and the wider Caribbean region. In order to address the issue ofoceans pollution, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) isalso engaging in strong outreach and education activities dedicated to minimizing theintroduction of debris into the marine environment.
Contributor: University of South Florida

Preventing untreated wastewater toenter the Caribbean Sea

Banning plasticbags in Kenya

More than 80% of sewage enters the Caribbean Sea
untreated, making it the primary source of landbased marine pollution. During the last five years,
the Caribbean Environment Programme has helped
countries reduce the negative impacts of untreatedsewage discharge through the Caribbean Regional
Fund for Wastewater Management project. As a result,
13 wastewater treatment facilities were rehabilitated in
Jamaica, and a new wastewater treatment plant wasbuilt in Belize. The Caribbean Environment Programmeis also working to reduce nutrients pollution fromagricultural discharge with the governments ofJamaica and Costa Rica, and has contributed to theestablishment of the Caribbean Platforms for Nutrientsand Wastewater Management. The first State of theConvention Area or Pollution Report will be publishedin 2018 with the aim of assisting governments of theWider Caribbean with the reduction and prevention ofmarine pollution.

On 28 August 2017,
Kenya banned theuse, manufacture andimport of all single-use
plastic bags. The ban
is an effort to reduce
the negative impact ofplastic on the national
environment, health andeconomy, following thefindings of 2.5 plasticbags on average inside
the stomachs of cows inWestern Kenya.

www.unep.org

Freeing the Mediterranean from marine litter
The Mediterranean Sea is one of the most affected by marine litter,having some of the largest amounts of Municipal Solid Waste
generated annually per person: approximately 208-760 kg/person/
year, the vast majority of which is plastics, which may reach up
to 90% of the recorded marine litter items. The Mediterraneancountries, Parties to the Barcelona Convention, are joining efforts
for freeing the Mediterranean from marine litter with the entry into
force in 2013 of the first-ever legally-binding Regional Plan on Marine
Litter Management. In this framework, specific actions are on-going:
for instance, Mediterranean countries are implementing fishing-forlitter and adopt-a-beach pilots. To tackle plastic litter at its source,
the Mediterranean Action Plan Secretariat is also providing technicalassistance to the Mediterranean countries in order to develop thelegal framework for the banning of single-use plastic bags at thenational level.

Nutrient pollution in Manila Bay
and in adjacent Laguna de Bay,the largest lake in the Philippines,
is a major concern. Nutrients,
mainly in the form of nitrogenand phosphorus compounds
that come from farmland runoff,
untreated sewage and detergentsin domestic wastewater have beencausing eutrophication both in
the lake and the coastal Manila
Bay. This has been affecting
water quality with negative
impacts to the health of aquatic
ecosystems and the health ofcitizens with significant economic
consequences. In 2008 theSupreme Court of the Philippines
mandated that all government
agencies and other bodies work
together in restoring the water
quality of the Manila Bay and its
coastal areas to address the root
causes of the current degradation,
including the problems of nutrient
over-enrichment. UN Environment,
through the Global Programmeof Action has been contributing
to local efforts in understanding
the nutrient cycling processes,
nutrient enrichment pollution andthe environmental consequences
toward the development of
improved practices to address theproblem.

For more information
environmentlive.unep.org | contact: ludgarde.coppens@un.org | cleanseas.org

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