"Plastic Pollution: A Crisis for the Earth"
The head of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has warned that the rapid growth of plastic waste at sea could lead to irreparable damage to the lives of marine life.
"Governments, companies and individuals need to take immediate action to stop plastic pollution," she said.
"This is a crisis for the planet," she said. "Within decades of the ease of use of plastics, we've been degrading the ocean's biological systems."
She was speaking to the BBC ahead of a UN climate summit in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi.
Delegates at the summit called for tougher measures against increased plastic waste.
Kai's story
Swenson was devastated to learn of a hospital in Kenya that treats tortoises that swallow plastic waste.
There she saw a little tortoise named Kai. A month ago, fishermen brought him to the hospital because he was floating on the sea.
Plastic waste was immediately suspected to be responsible for this, as tortoises eat a lot of plastic and their stomachs swell and they float on the sea.
For two weeks, Kai was given digestive medicine to remove plastic from her body. Svenson witnessed an emotional moment when Kai was taken back to sea for her full recovery.
The side of the problem
Albatrosses and other seabirds and other marine creatures are mistaken for food and eat plastic products.
But plastic bags are said to be the only problem. Many other plastics flowing through water sources are the cause of these problems.
"The UN process is very slow," Swanson acknowledged. It could take ten years to reach an agreement on a UN treaty on plastic waste and another two years to implement it. "
"We have to go through the UN process because it's really a global problem, but we can't wait until then."
She said the sea was facing a number of problems, including overfishing, chemical pollution, sewage contamination, coastal structures, climate change, increasing acidity and over-exploitation of coral reefs.
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