Dive Against Debris, a unique global citizen science survey in which scuba divers around the world remove and report marine litter, will reach another significant milestone in the coming year. After years of negotiations, United Nation countries will seek to announce a global treaty that would strive to put an end to plastic pollution. This treaty could include both mandatory and voluntary approaches, addressing the full life cycle of plastic, including many of the common items found in PADI AWARE’s marine debris program. For example, key Dive Against Debris findings globally have proven that almost 70 percent of all items reported were plastics.

The current political will to develop a binding global treaty presents a once-in-a-generation opportunity to put in place a legal instrument to end plastic pollution. It is a major leap forward towards meeting PADI’s 2030 Blueprint for Ocean Action goal to reduce marine debris by 50% in targeted countries. Further, PADI AWARE Foundation is the only organization representing the recreational dive community and industry in the ongoing official negotiations leading up to the anticipated agreement of the Treaty in spring 2025.

As an accredited charity with a seat at the international table, we will be actively participating at every step of the Global Plastic Treaty development as it is debated by governments. Our campaign goals are to help ensure that: 1) The Treaty is ambitious enough to tackle the marine problem of plastic pollution; 2) The voice of dive community is elevated and represented; and 3) Dive Against Debris is recognized as a part of the solution to remove and monitor marine debris.

Solution Oriented

Since its inception in 2011, Dive Against Debris has been a keystone conservation program at PADI AWARE Foundation. Together, our work on marine debris has played an integral part in advancing solutions to ocean pollution. Year over year, we have allocated financial and organizational resources to ensure the program supports our global community and drives impact. In doing so, millions of pieces of marine debris have been removed and reported across over 121 countries; almost 100,000 underwater citizen scientists have advanced ground-breaking marine research; and the lives of over 35,000 entangled marine animals have been saved. Today, we house the largest, underwater marine debris database on the planet and share that data actively with public stakeholders.

Through our collective goal to rid the ocean of marine debris, we have established a credible, replicable and scalable system to monitor and remove plastic pollution from the seafloor without damaging it. Volunteers involved in Dive Against Debris have already leveraged this data to help convince decision-makers to adopt more stringent policies on plastics in their local communities. In Vanuatu, the government announced a ban on the import and local manufacturing of non-biodegradable plastics, based on studies done by environmental groups, including local dive center Big Blue. In Australia, Dive Centre Manly helped to drive single-use plastic policies by directly sharing Dive Against Debris data from clean-ups in Manly Harbor. These are just a couple of examples of the recreational dive sector making meaningful and long-lasting change on their doorsteps.

The outcome measures established by the Global Plastic Treaty are unknown, but what has always been clear is that scuba divers are a key stakeholder in its long-term success. As the underwater eyes of the world, there is no demographic better positioned to help, specifically in the removal of plastic pollution currently under consideration in Article 11 of the Treaty. This area of text is of particular interest for PADI AWARE and was a focus at discussions in Nairobi in November 2023. At the upcoming 2024 meetings in Canada and South Korea, we will work with governments to ensure Article 11 promotes removing plastic pollution in a manner that does not damage marine habitats. Dive Against Debris is currently the only global debris removal activity that doesn’t have a detrimental impact on fragile habitats such as seagrass and coral reefs.

The underwater monitoring aspect of PADI AWARE’s citizen science programs enable us to negotiate from a position of strength. Specifically Dive Against Debris information collected at Adopt the Blue sites can provide consistent data at fixed geographies over long periods of time. This provides national and regional governments with the ability to choose key hotspots to track impacts of a range of waste management policies. We have already tested this approach in Dominican Republic with 5 dive centers engaging 1,000 citizen scientists over the course of 12 months. This project will provide the government in Dominican Republic with baseline data both before and after the Global Plastic Treaty’s implementation.

“The project with PADI AWARE has defined the past year at our dive center. From rescuing baby octopus from beer cans, to hauling a sunken kayak from the depths with a lift bag, the Dive Against Debris monitoring project has been effective, useful, and fun. Cleaning the same sites for a year has allowed us to see in real time the difference that one operation and a group of dedicated divers can make,” says Ana K Pineda, OWSI 385443 at Dive Cabarate.

Join the Campaign

The development of the Global Plastic Treaty has only just started, and everyone with an interest in plastic production, from consumers to producers, will have a chance to influence what governments try to put into the Treaty. To help facilitate this engagement, PADI AWARE Foundation will call upon millions of PADI Ocean Torchbearers around the world to sign onto a petition to not only hold governments and the plastic production industry accountable, but to put our collective Dive Against Debris army forward as a part of the solution. We will also continue to call upon divers to participate in Dive Against Debris events with their local dive centers and while traveling to keep data flowing to inform policy in real-time.

While this global campaign will be coordinated by PADI AWARE Foundation, its success will be reliant on the collective power and passion of PADI Mission Hubs and Torchbearers. It is estimated that 14 million tons of plastic ends up in the ocean every year. A strong Global Plastic Treaty should be the catalyst to start reducing and ending that worrying trend, and our Dive Against Debris supporters will help with the clean-up and tracking of our progress. We recognize the enormity of this problem and that divers see what is happening beneath the waves better than any other group of stakeholders. PADI and the PADI AWARE Foundation will continue to support divers to take action on marine debris at both the local and global level in any way we can. We hope that as many of you as possible, from all parts of the world, will join us.

By Danna Moore, Global Director, PADI AWARE Foundation

The post PADI AWARE Campaign to Influence Global Plastic Treaty appeared first on PADI Pros.

Conservation, Dive Against Debris, PADI AWARE, PADI AWARE Foundation, plastic pollutionPADI Pros