Plastics and climate change pose major threats to the health of the oceans says Lucy Woodall, associate professor of marine conservation biology and policy, University of Exeter, and principal scientist, Nekton Foundation.Average global sea surface temperatures have increased by approximately 0.13°C per decade over the past 100 years, according to the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)."There's two really big things we can do to help, and one is to reduce global emissions. We need to do that immediately and also to set up large-scale protected areas," says Cassandra Brooks, assistant professor in environmental studies, University of Colorado Boulder.Plastic pollution is another big threat to oceans.According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), at least 14 million tonnes of plastic end up in the ocean every year, and plastic "makes up 80% of all marine debris found from surface waters to deep-sea sediments.""Plastics are ubiquitous in our oceans, and they're also the ultimate sink for when plastics come from the land and into our sea," says Woodall.Last week global negotiators agreed to craft a draft treaty to end plastic pollution, a preliminary but crucial step toward tackling one of the most lasting sources of human waste.Environmental advocates cautiously welcomed the outcome of five days of U.N. talks in Paris on plastic pollution, but expressed concern that the petroleum industry and some governments would water down the eventual treaty.Most plastic is made from fossil fuels.Delegates at the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee for Plastics agreed on June 3 to produce an initial draft before their next meeting in Kenya in November, participants said.The committee is charged with developing the first international, legally binding treaty on plastic pollution, on land and at sea.