http://unric.org/en/latest-un-buzz/29162-paradise-lost-to-plastic

Paradise lost to plastic?

Friday, 18 April 2014 00:00

18 April 2014 - Hornstrandir, the northwestern most part of Iceland has
been abandoned for over a century, when the last settlers left their
farms close to the Arctic Circle. On a clear day, the ice caps of the
glaciers on the equally, virtually uninhabited, east coast of Greenland
can be seen on the horizon. This remote and isolated area is famous for
its untouched landscapes and the colonies of millions of seabirds,
enjoying the absence of man. That is at least what French photographer
Julien Joly, was expecting, when he toured the region.

Plastic debris on the shore was one of the last things he expected to see.

?I thought the shores of regions like Hornstrandir would be untouched by
the hand of man,? says Joly in an interview with the Newsletter. I was
even more shocked to see that some of the debris was in the stomach of
birds and marine animals.?

The US National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration estimates
that plastic debris kills an estimated 100,000 marine mammals annually
in the world, as well as millions of birds and fishes.