The WEA participated in the UN Biodiversity Conference, where 188 countries approved “measures deemed critical to addressing the dangerous loss of biodiversity”.

The European Parliament voted to ban replaceable products such as plates, straws and cotton buds, by 2021.

Producers will help cover the costs of clean-up and waste management for items such as food and drinks containers. “Single use plastics are not a smart economic or environmental choice”, says the European Commission.

A report warns that ocean plastic will triple in a decade. “We invest a lot of money for missions to space, but there’s nothing living out there. The sea bed is teeming with life”, experts say.

The Southern Ocean will be sheltered from fishing in the next 35 years. The agreement comes after five years of negotiations. Russia was the last one to accept it.

This is the first scientific evidence that “confirms the numerous anecdotal accounts from across the Pacific of the dramatic impacts of climate change.”

Government announced the creation of an ocean sanctuary the size of France, to preserve marine life in the South Pacific. It is expected to be in place by October 2016.