From pollution to solution - A global assessment of marine litter and plastic pollution

Abstract

This assessment provides the strongest scientific argument to date for the urgency of acting, and for collective action to protect and restore our oceans. The assessment details the impacts of marine litter and plastic pollution – from the population level to the sub-cellular – revealing previously unknown aspects of the effects of microplastics on physiology as well as their ecotoxicological effects on ecosystems, wildlife and humans. Drawing on a comprehensive synthesis of the latest findings about the sources, pathways and fate of marine litter and plastic pollution, the assessment highlights the pervasiveness of plastics and microplastics, from the deepest abyssal environments to the most remote oceanic islands, and the extreme pressure being exerted on the planet.