On May 16, 2019, the Yale School of Environment published a story about a remote island on the Indian Ocean and its population of 600, who were the recipient of 238 tonnes of plastic waste. Researchers who surveyed the Cocos (Keeling) Islands
found an estimated 414 million pieces of plastic, and 380 million buried in the sand. The study, which was published in Nature, solemnly notes,
“Sadly, the situation on the Cocos (Keeling) Islands is not unique, with significant quantities of debris documented on islands and coastal areas from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Together, these islands and coastal areas reflect the acute symptoms of an otherwise rapidly increasing environmental hazard.”
India is no stranger to pollution, and plastic pollution in the country is all too visible. The effects of this pollution is far reaching; the seas around Mumbai, Kerala, and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands are among the most polluted in the world. Plastic debris affects an estimated 267 species, 86% of all sea turtles, 44% of all seabirds, and 43% of all marine mammals. Moreover, toxic heavy metals, like copper, cadmium, lead and zinc drastically affect the fragile coastal ecosystems.
A study conducted by IIT-Bombay, revealed that by 2050, Mumbai’s seas might have more plastic than fish. A United Nations Environment Programme report released in 2015 stated that India’s part is ocean pollution was significant. The presence of the world’s most polluted rivers act as an additional factor as they drain into the oceans.
Marine plastics have been quite the cause for concern in the international forum for decades. The Convention on Prevention of Marine Pollution by Dumping of Wastes and Other Matter, 1972, or the London Convention, was one of first international conventions that was designed to protect marine environment from human activities, by promoting effective control of sources of marine pollutants. In 1982, the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, developed a framework to “prevent, reduce and control pollution of the marine environment”. However, a more concrete step towards controlling marine plastics was not taken until 2015, when the UN General Committee adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which aimed to “prevent and significantly reduce marine pollution of all kinds, in particular from land-based activities, including marine debris and nutrient pollution” by 2025.
As a result, the Ad-Hoc Open-Ended Expert Group (AHOEEG) was formed to study and determine the obstacles to combat marine littering and microplastics, and identify the range of response options and their socio-economic and environmental costs. In 2017, during the third session of the United Nations Environmental Assembly (UNEA), member states supported a series of actions to eliminate the discharge of plastic litter and microplastics in the ocean by increasing recycling and stressing on the role of producer responsibility.
By 2019, 187 countries took a major step towards solving the plastic waste crisis by adding “plastic” to the Basel Convention, a treaty that controls transboundary movement of hazardous waste and its disposal. This addition to the treaty would require countries shipping plastic waste away, to get a written consent from the receiving country. Hence, it serves as a measure to increase accountability and proof of plastic disposal by countries.
Also read: You’re Eating, Drinking and Breathing Microplastics. Now What?
Marine plastics have not been dealt with in India extensively as far as policies and legislations go. The only concrete policy has been one of banning the single-use plastic. Himachal Pradesh acted as the trailblazer and soon the crusade against single-use plastic was taken up by Delhi, Karnataka, and Tamil Nadu. More than half of the Indian states and Union Territories had legislations to ban single-use plastic by the first half of 2019. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had also promised to eliminate single-use plastic by 2022 and announced the marine litter action campaign, a programme to identify the source of litter, especially plastic waste that enters India’s coastal waters. This exercise is said to be the first step towards framing a concrete National Marine Litter Policy, which is in line with UN Environment’s ‘Clean Seas Campaign’.
Regrettably, 2020 presented a major roadblock. The use of plastics increased drastically as regulations were relaxed. As early as April, the world saw discarded masks and gloves wash up on beaches and coastlines around the world. Recently, the centre has issued a draft notification for a phased out ban of single-use plastic by 2022. This move, as estimated by the All India Plastics Manufacturers Association, is also poised to affect at least a million jobs.
Yet, the question remains: How does a problem that has been talked about this extensively since 1972 grow in severity by the day? The answer lies in incentives. The legislations, both national and international are suggestive in nature, and shy away from laying down a solid path of action. The law may talk about cutting down on single-use plastic, but it makes no mention of a replacement. Neither does it incentivise companies to invest in viable alternatives, nor does it demand that they pay for the externalities caused by the pollution. As always, the worst is borne by the least privileged.
The dire situation and the futility of the legal provisions have pushed local coastal communities to come up innovative solutions. In Kerala, fishermen of Kollam, have started hauling back the plastic waste they find the ocean. The local government aided the community in setting up a recycling facility, that uses all manners of plastic waste – from discarded bottles to toys – to strengthen asphalt for paving roads.
P. Mathias, who heads a regional union for fishing boat owners and operators, says that the coastal communities are all too aware of the dangers of plastic. According to him, the decreasing number of fish can be attributed to several reasons, such as overfishing and climate change, but marine plastics is by far the most visible culprit, and it certainly deserves a good portion of the blame. This story highlights not only the gravity of the situation, but also the sheer resilience of communities left to face the wrath of environmental damage.
Ahana Bag is a penultimate student of Department of Law, University of Calcutta.
Featured image: Ocean plastics and their threat to wildlife have gained mainstream attention in recent years. Photo: Jorge Silva/Reuters