Something fishy about plastic
Environmental expert, Dr Rolph Payet FRGS, Executive Secretary of the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Convention Secretariat, delivered the University of London’s annual 1858 Charter Lecture.

The 1858 Charter Lecture 2019
Entitled ‘Pushing Back on Plastics’, the lecture examined the impact of plastics on our environment, including its impact on marine life.
After the lecture Dr Payet took part in a Q&A session, where he was joined by:
- Adam Donnan, CEO, at the Institute of Environmental Sciences
- Julian Kirby, Lead Plastic Pollution Campaigner, Friends of the Earth
- Louise Edge, Senior Oceans Campaigner, Greenpeace,
- Professor Mary Stiasny OBE, Pro Vice-Chancellor (International), University of London, who chaired the panel.
The annual lecture celebrates the awarding of the University of London’s 1858 Royal Charter, which opened up distance and flexible learning around the world.
Today, the University has more than 50,000 students in over 190 countries worldwide, as well as 1.6 million students registered on one of its MOOCs.
Dr Payet was a lead author of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reports which were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007 with former US Vice President, Al Gore.
