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global campaign was launched on Thursday to end marine litter with citizens, business and governments pledging their actions and commitment to reducing the production and excessive use of plastics.

Launched at the World Ocean Summit in Bali, the #CleanSeas campaign urges governments to pass plastic reduction policies, target industry to minimize plastic packaging and redesign products and call on consumers to change their throwaway habits before irreversible damage is done to the oceans.

“It’s past time that we tackle the plastic problem that blights our oceans. Plastic pollution is surfing onto Indonesian beaches, settling onto the ocean floor at the North Pole and rising through the food chain onto our dinner tables. We’ve stood by too long as the problem has gotten worse. It must stop,” said United Nations Environment Program head Erik Solheim.

Ten countries have joined the campaign: Belgium, Costa Rica, France, Grenada, Indonesia, Norway, Panama, Saint Lucia, Sierra Leone and Uruguay.

The campaign will announce ambitious measures by countries and businesses to eliminate microplastics from personal care products, ban or tax single-use bags and dramatically reduce other disposable plastic items.

Indonesia, the second-largest producer of plastic after China, has committed to slashing its marine litter by a massive 70 percent by 2025. Uruguay will tax single-use plastic bags later this year and Costa Rica will take measures to dramatically reduce single-use plastic through better waste management and education.

As some global brands are also joining the fight, all these actions are expected to significantly stem the tide of marine litter.

Each year, more than 8 million tons of plastic ends up in the oceans, wreaking havoc on marine wildlife, fisheries and tourism, and costing at least US$8 billion in damage to marine ecosystems. Up to 80 percent of all litter in oceans is made up of plastic.

According to some estimates, at the rate people are dumping items such as plastic bottles, bags and cups after a single use, by 2050, oceans will carry more plastic than fish and an estimated 99 percent of seabirds will have ingested plastic.

As many as 51 trillion microplastic particles — 500 times more than the stars in the galaxy — litter the seas, seriously threatening marine wildlife, the UN estimates.

“Citizens, governments and businesses all understand the need to change, and together we can make this happen. We inspire people to act, mobilize businesspeople and call on governments to show strong political commitment and concerted efforts,” Solheim said about the five-year campaign.

The UN will also create a system in which governments and businesses can register their promises for change, discuss them at roundtable meetings and make a system to monitor their accountability.

The first day of the World Ocean Summit also featured a session on “financing the sustainable ocean economy,” during which speakers discussed how to seize the opportunity to develop a “blue” economy as an innovative vehicle for investing sustainably in the ocean.

“The best way [to advance a sustainable ocean economy] is that everybody should be the architect of solutions. It’s not one person doing one thing,” said Michael Eckhart, Citigroup managing director and head of environmental finance.

“Whether you’re working on fisheries, water quality or reefs, turn it into some business opportunity that could be financed. That is the key to our success.”