Karen Raubenheimer

My PhD thesis, titled “Towards an Improved Framework to Prevent Marine Plastic Debris,” analysed measures to prevent ocean- and land-based sources of plastic pollution. The feasibility of a new legally binding international agreement and an associated global funding mechanism was reviewed.

I was the lead author of the 2017 assessment for the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) titled: Combating marine plastic litter and microplastics: An assessment of the effectiveness of relevant international, regional and subregional governance strategies and approaches, and presented the resulting report at the third meeting of the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA-3) in Nairobi, December 2017. I have since been involved in the Ad Hoc Open Ended Expert Group meetings and the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC) for the negotiation of a global legally binding agreement to end plastic pollution.

I was the lead author of the 2020 report commissioned by the Nordic Council of Ministers for the Environment and Climate title "Possible elements of a new global agreement to prevent plastic pollution" (nordicreport2020.com). In 2023, I lead the report for the Secretariat of the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions, titled "Global governance of plastics and associated chemicals,' for submission to the second meeting of the INC. I was again contracted by the Nordic Council of Ministers for the Environment and Climate to deliver a report titled "Global criteria to address problematic, unnecessary and avoidable plastic products." Two reports have been co-authored with GRID-Arendal, titled "Science-Policy Interface for Plastic Pollution" and "Climate Impacts of Plastics."

I also hold a Master of Environmental Management from the University of New South Wales.