A global treaty to curb plastic pollution failed; ocean conservation expert Marce Gutiérrez-Graudiņš outlines next steps.
Marce Gutiérrez-Graudiņš, who works to preserve marine resources, spoke about her group’s ongoing conservation efforts in the U.S. as she readies for future international talks to curb plastic pollution.
Marce Gutiérrez-Graudiņš was hoping she’d be a part of history last month when more than 170 countries gathered in Busan, South Korea, to forge a legally binding global treaty to curb plastic pollution.
“We were hoping this was the last meeting,” the California-based ocean conservation expert, who was part of the U.S. delegation, told NBC News.
The global treaty didn’t happen; countries failed to reach an agreement in the fifth and final round of the United Nations Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee meetings.
“We’re going to have at least another round — sometime in the late spring or summer,” Gutiérrez-Graudiņš said. Instead of locking up a potentially problematic treaty for decades, she said it was worth spending more time trying to figure out the financing and how to monitor transparency and countries’ responsibilities.
Marce Gutiérrez-Graudiņš founded Azul, a nonprofit organization to preserve marine resources, after she saw the depletion of fish in her work in commercial fishing and aquaculture.Courtesy AzulAnd as the year comes to an end, the Mexican American environmental leader and founder of Azul, a nonprofit to preserve marine resources, remains positive and focused on the work ahead.
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