Name: Mollie Richards

Committee: UNEP
Country: Germany
Topic: Ocean Water Pollution

The issue of ocean water pollution is major because it caused the water to be unsafe for
humans and harmful to marine life and it’s only getting worse. One main reason for the pollution
is trash that is constantly getting dumped into the water. In particular, plastic is very harmful and
one of the top polluters in the ocean. Billions of pounds of plastic make up 40% of the world’s
ocean surface (“Ocean Plastics Pollution”). Many people around the world are working on ways
to fix this issue as simple as starting small and passing on the topic. Every day, the ocean is
getting more and more polluted because of humans and it’s causing a great amount of harm
and even deaths to the marine wildlife. Most people just blow off this issue, but all it is doing is
constantly getting worse.
In Germany, the main issue of ocean pollution is the major amount of chemicals/nitrates
in the water caused by industrial chemicals and pesticides. These chemicals are really affecting
the algae population as well as marine life and causing dramatic changes to their environments.
Germany has tried to watch the substance levels and figure out the initial sources of these
chemical, but this is very costly and can only happen sometimes. Another issue, is the amount
of nitrates in the water, but Germany has not taken much action upon the growing issue.
However, The Nitrates Detective council has been working to prevent nitrates from polluting the
surface/ground water, and are attempting to have farmers use other sources rather than nitrates
for farming (“Water pollution by Nitrates”). The excess levels of nitrates are causing the water
quality to deteriorate and it’s causing a loss of biodiversity. Also, microplastics are polluting the
water and are commonly used because they are cheap and easy to use for manufacturing
(Reiff, Susanne).
My country, Germany, would like to see the following things happen for this situation.
Also, there needs to be stricter regulations or laws on the fertilizers being used and what they’re
made of. There are many eco-friendly pesticides that can be used as opposed to these harmful
ones. Germany could create more landfills to store the manufacturing waster rather than just
dumping it straight into the ocean where it becomes very damaging. As well as reducing the use
of plastic and harmful materials to prevent harming animals and to keep the water clean.

Works cited:

Europe Press Release. “Water: Commission refers GERMANY to the Court of Justice of the
 EU over water pollution caused by nitrates”. 28 April 2016. European Commission.
12 April 2018. <http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-16-1453_en.htm>

Le Guern, Claire. “When the Mermaids Cry: The Great Plastic Tide”. March 2018.
Coastal Care. 12 April 2018 <http://plastic-pollution.org>

McDermott, Annette. “Solutions for Ocean Pollution”. 2014. Lovetoknow. 12 April 2018.
<https://greenliving.lovetoknow.com/Solutions_for_Ocean_Pollution>

“Ocean Plastics Pollution”. Center for Biological Diversity.12 April 2018.

<https://www.biologicaldiversity.org/campaigns/ocean_plastics/>

Reiff, Susanne. “Micro particles- major threat: Microplastics in the Oceans”. 12 March 2018.
TOPICS. 12 April 2018. <https://www.alumniportal-deutschland.org/en/global-goals/sdg-14-
ocean/microplastics-oceans/>