ONE WORLD ONE OCEAN - In the role of guardians of your geographical regions, there is also a responsibility to develop the blue economy for the international circular economies that a sustainable society requires if we are not to burn planet earth out. We are concerned about the state of the ocean and deteriorating trends, and recognise that the ocean economy is a last chance to reconfigure extraction, production and consumption to ensure that social and economic development respects the planetary boundaries, the integrity of ecosystems to maintain their productivity, and the principles of sustainable development as expressed in the UN Sustainable Development Goals, notably SDG14.

There are a number of organizations that exist to promote world peace and societal projects for the good of mankind. These include the United Nations, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and many smaller concerns that grant aid suitable projects. In addition there are incentives by most countries to promote clean energy and blue growth.

Each nation making such efforts may not know or rely on their own efforts such that a coordinated global attack on ocean pollution is the result - and that is what we hope world leaders will agree is needed for such an assault on the plastic that threatens to convert our oceans into a toxic poly-slurry.

LAND BASED ANTI PLASTIC ALLIANCE

Governments all over the world are acting to reduce plastic packaging and introducing reuse and recycling. Many responsible corporations are following suit, taking public concerns seriously enough to want to tackle the problem - and also show what they intend doing. Ministers have read the signs, knowing what UN sustainable goals require, so must be pleased at the progress that is being made on land. Beach cleaning is leading the charge, with plastic so collected now being mixed with other recycled plastics to make new products. You can see this in action as part of the EU Plastics Strategy for a Circular Economy.

The same cannot be said to be happening for the ocean. No amount of beach cleaning and recycling on land in Europe and elsewhere in the world is going to stop plastic from accumulating in the gyres, or rid the oceans of the accumulated plastic.

OCEAN BASED ANTI-PLASTIC ALLIANCE

We must get the same level of international agreement going on water as there presently is about land actions.

One of the main issues to recognise and overcome is not the physical act of taking plastic out of the ocean, but cutting through umpteen levels of bureaucracy, multiplied by 20 countries. We could spend more time negotiating with each country to get the ministers to agree on levels of contribution and if and why they should contribute, then on how to deal with the problem, than actually dealing with the problem. 

A possible solution that we are here proposing is to create an Ocean Alliance against plastic, specifically to target the build up of associated problems for our next generations and cut through the red tape to get to the blue tape.

By coordinating world efforts cost effectively we may speed up the development of potential solutions. Administrative delays are the enemy of progress, only normally resolved diligently in times of war.

This is a proposal that is designed to reduce the cost of our administration, where applying for grants from different groups is sapping our efforts. This is because most application processes are complicated and time consuming, with significant delays between calls and funding - and of course - no guarantee of success. We might skip over much of the red-tape by asking countries directly for contributions for membership to an Ocean Alliance. We call this our blue tape method.

FOR OUR CHILDREN - The children of Burgas at European Maritime Day present Alberto Laplaine Guimarães with a gift from the Bulgarian City. Sustainable growth and aims for a circular economy are for our children and their children, and their children, and their children - lest we forget why we are working to clean our act up. As trustees of planet earth we should hand the world to our successors in better shape than we found it. Copyright © photograph June 1 2018 Cleaner Ocean Foundation.

ONE PLANET, ONE OCEAN

We share one ocean and one planet. We may care to think otherwise, but in the greatest technical challenge we have yet faced as brothers and sisters of planet earth there are no borders. What neighbor countries trash today is your pollution problem tomorrow, and what you fail to clean up today as responsible parents is our children's legacy for generations to come.

With plastic being a toxin carrier and bioamplifier in the food chain, we can expect that people ingesting fish exposed to marine plastic will be that much more likely to suffer cancer related problems in life, with follow on costs to the health services of contributor nations.

The unique quality of humans is our ability to reason and be reasonable. Provided that the main industrial players in the world accept that plastic production and usage is linked to Gross Domestic Product, it is reasonable to expect that those with most to gain from ocean research and regeneration might want to contribute what they can afford.

We know that world leaders will consider it unfair if they are asked to contribute more than other nations, but would also expect that each nations should match fund any coordinated efforts of this nature. Funding need only continue until SeaVax reaches break even point, at which stage members might expect to benefit from ongoing operations without any cost of membership attaching if they elect to operate their own fleets on a free-license basis.

OCEAN ACTION PLAN

The World needs an Ocean Action Plan to coordinate the efforts of member nations that in turn will benefit each other as the oceans move from one shoreline to the shores of a neighbor country. To help us develop an international strategy we need to generate sufficient funds to effectively make headway, estimated to be in the region of $10 million dollars to develop a SeaVax prototype. Follow on expenses, or pledges of ongoing support should be included to cover the cost of helping contributing nations to set up fleets of ocean cleaning boats - and running them in a network or pattern that stands the best chance of regenerating our oceans. We anticipate it will take around three years to get things moving.

PROPOSED ACTION PLAN IN BRIEF

An Action Plan will involve coordinated research, communications and operations designed to tackle marine plastic, working with other organizations and academics who are committed to such development, to make people aware of the dangers of plastic pollution and the need to review packaging policies.

An Action Plan will involve:

1. Developing ocean cleaning vessels and a central hub to coordinate plastic recovery missions and recycling.

2. Incorporate an awareness campaign to target young and old, to promote responsible use of plastics.

3. Lobbying Governments and Corporations for a rethink on product packaging design and recycling.

4. Collecting grants, accounting for and end of year reporting on progress to Ocean Alliance members.

5. As appropriate and to be agreed by members, winding down the 'Alliance' and handing operations over to individual nations or other international bodies once the plastic menace is averted.

World Oceans Anti-plastic Alliance (WOAA)

Cleaner Ocean Foundation Ltd

Solar Studios (Solar House)

BN271RF

United Kingdom.

Tel/Fax: 0044 1323 831727

Email: growth @ blue-growth . org

THE G7 HEADS OF STATE INCLUDING THE EU 2018

The Group of Seven (G7) is a group consisting of:

Canada

France

Germany

Italy

Japan

United Kingdom

United States

The European Union is also represented at the G7 summit.

These countries, with the seven largest advanced economies in the world, represent more than 62% of the global net wealth ($280 trillion). The G7 countries also represent more than 46% of the global gross domestic product (GDP) based on nominal values, and more than 32% of the global GDP based on purchasing power parity.

The concept of a forum for the world's most industrialized countries came from the 1973 oil crisis and grew from there. We are now facing an international plastic crisis.

THE G20 HEADS OF STATE 2018

LINKS & REFERENCE

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2017_G20_Hamburg_summit

http://www.g20-insights.org/policy_briefs/sustainable-ocean-economy-innovation-growth-g20-initiative-7th-largest-economy-world/