The environmental organization World Wide Fund For Nature (WWF) warns of the dramatic dimensions of a global plastic crisis.

According to a study on the effects of plastic waste on ocean species and ecosystems, the concentration of plastic waste in the world's oceans is threatened to quadruple by 2050.

A binding global agreement is required "to stop the irreversible pollution of the world's oceans," said Heike Vesper, head of the marine protection department at WWF Germany.

By the end of this century, areas of sea two and a half times the area of ​​Greenland could exceed ecologically risky microplastic concentration thresholds.

The amount of marine microplastics threatens to increase 50-fold by then, according to the study published on Tuesday.

In some hotspot regions such as the Mediterranean Sea, the Yellow Sea, the East China Sea and the sea ice in the Arctic, the concentration of microplastics has already exceeded the ecologically critical threshold.

WWF: contain the plastic crisis now

Around 19 to 23 million tons of plastic waste per year make their way from land into the world's waters, it is said.

That corresponds to almost two truckloads per minute.

Plastic penetration in the ocean is irreversible, Vesper said.

Plastic waste is constantly decomposing, so the concentration of micro- and nanoplastics will continue to rise for decades.

Fighting the causes of plastic pollution in the bud is much more effective than eliminating the consequences afterwards.

"If governments, industry and society act together now, they can still contain the plastic crisis," said Vesper.

However, regional or voluntary measures would not suffice.

The WWF is therefore calling on governments to give the United Nations a negotiating mandate for a legally binding global agreement against plastic pollution at the UN Environment Assembly in Nairobi at the end of the month.

"Such a global treaty must address all phases of the plastic life cycle and end plastic pollution of the oceans by 2030," said Vesper.

Negative effects of plastic waste have already been proven for almost all species groups in the sea: pieces of plastic in the stomach, deadly nooses around the neck, chemical softeners in the blood.

According to the study, the dangers for sea creatures are numerous.

Plastic causes internal and external injuries or even death to marine animals, restricts locomotion or growth, reduces the feeding or reproductive capacity of animals and changes their behavior.

Negative effects of plastic were found in almost 90 percent of the marine species studied, as Melanie Bergmann, marine biologist at the Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz Center for Polar and Marine Research (AWI), said.

As plastic pollution progresses, the proven harmful effects would increase.

For the few remaining specimens of already critically endangered species like monk seals or sperm whales in the Mediterranean, the plastic crisis could even "tip the scales and become a matter of survival," she said.

According to scientific estimates, up to 90 percent of all seabirds and 52 percent of all sea turtles already ingest plastic waste.

"A small plastic bag looks like a jellyfish to a sea turtle," Bergmann explained.

The "plasticization" hits coral reefs and mangrove forests, which are among the world's most important marine ecosystems, particularly hard.

2,592 scientific studies were evaluated for the study commissioned by the WWF.

The UN Environment Conference will take place in Nairobi from February 28th to March 2nd.

There the mandate for the development of a binding agreement against the entry of plastic into the sea is to be decided.