A global treaty to curb plastic pollution failed. An ocean conservation expert outlines next steps.

Marce Gutiérrez-Graudiņš was hoping she’d be a part of history last month when more than 170 countries gathered in Busan, South Korea, to forge a legally binding global treaty to curb plastic pollution.

“We were hoping this was the last meeting,” the California-based ocean conservation expert, who was part of the U.S. delegation, told NBC News.

The global treaty didn’t happen; countries failed to reach an agreement in the fifth and final round of the United Nations Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee meetings.

“We’re going to have at least another round — sometime in the late spring or summer,” Gutiérrez-Graudiņš said. Instead of locking up a potentially problematic treaty for decades, she said it was worth spending more time trying to figure out the financing and how to monitor transparency and countries’ responsibilities.

And as the year comes to an end, the Mexican American environmental leader and founder of Azul, a nonprofit to preserve marine resources, remains positive and focused on the work ahead.

Researchers estimate that if nothing is done to curb plastic pollution, it will double by 2050. A global treaty could help reduce plastic pollution by 91%.

Despite headwinds like the recent impasse in South Korea and uncertainty over whether the incoming Trump administration would quash an international agreement to curb plastic pollution, Gutiérrez-Graudiņš said when it comes to protecting the environment, “we have to work with who is in front of us, and that is putting aside our political or federal preferences.”

The ocean conservation expert said that when it comes to the environment and her fellow Latinos, it’s really a nonpartisan issue. “People understand that things are not as they used to be; people understand that we’re having more emergencies.”

In her home state of California, for example, people are aware of rising temperatures, the scarcity of water and more frequent fires, and across the country they see the devastation from recent, stronger hurricanes.

Gutiérrez-Graudiņš cited a poll of 2,500 Latino registered voters commissioned by her organization and released earlier this year. Most Latinos agreed that governments should invest more in protecting the ocean, even if it means having to pay more out of their own pockets, according to the national survey.

Regarding the use of plastics, over 70% of Latino voters polled supported a ban on single-use plastic products and 75% of them favored regulating the use and types of chemicals used in plastic production. Three-quarters of them also supported an international treaty aiming at ending plastic pollution, “even if it means the U.S. may have to follow difficult and expensive rules.”

While recent headlines about plastic use have focused on microplastics in the human body, Gutiérrez-Graudiņš said there also needs to be an emphasis on tackling its production, including where it’s produced and how it’s affecting people in the area.

Gutiérrez-Graudiņš pointed to a viral video of a turtle with a straw stuck in its nose, which drew attention to the need to curb plastic products, as NBC News reported. But by the time that straw hurt a marine animal, the plastic had already left behind “a path of destruction” and was in the last phase of its pollution cycle, she explained.

“We are seeing that this is a problem that is both from the extraction of oil, the extraction of gas, the transportation, the production, the disposal, the use, the endocrine disruptors that are impacting us,” Gutiérrez-Graudiņš said. “What we’re looking at with a treaty is really actually taking a holistic view of this.”

Looking ahead to the next international meeting, she and her peers are negotiating toward a comprehensive plan that tackles the entire life cycle of plastic production and its effects.

Seeing the effects 'firsthand'

Before she founded Azul in 2011, Gutiérrez-Graudiņš began her career in the commercial fishing and aquaculture fields doing logistics and operations, helping get permits to move and transport fish. She first began to get inklings of environmental harm when she noticed the company she worked for was receiving fewer fish while spending more on fuel to get what it needed. That, combined with projections of dwindling fish supplies in coming decades, resonated with her. “I was seeing that firsthand,” she said. “It really struck me, that was not something I want to be part of.”

As Gutiérrez-Graudiņš prepares to resume global negotiations, her nonprofit Azul currently has three active campaigns in her home state. Deja el Plastico (Ditch the Plastic) is aimed at reducing plastic pollution in California; its efforts helped lead to the passage of the state’s ban on single-use plastic bags in 2016.

Latina “abuelas,” or grandmothers, can offer an example of how to use less plastic, Gutiérrez-Graudiņš said, recalling the “abuelita bags” her grandmother took with her when she went shopping for groceries.

“My grandmother had a reusable bag,” she said. “I mean, it may not look like the one you get at Whole Foods or at an organic market, but it was still the same.”

Azul’s Vamos a La Playa (Let’s go to the Beach) campaign is centered around coastal access. While a more than 40-year-old law known as the California Coastal Act currently allows Californians to access the coastline, it’s not always clear at the local level, she said. Her team works to enhance beach access and works with regulators to ensure communities are informed about their rights.

“A lot of people don’t really understand that the coast is for everybody,” Gutiérrez-Graudiņš said. “Maybe they have been made to feel unwelcome, and I’ve seen that firsthand.”

She also started the Latinos Marinos (Marine Latinos) campaign, which is the organization’s civic engagement arm inspired by Gutiérrez-Graudiņš’ experiences — she was often the only Latina in a predominately white field and said she’s faced racism from the public, peers and policymakers.

“We’re creating a place for people to feel included. And we provide the tool kit. We provide the opportunities. And you know, what I tell people is that our job is translating, and I don’t mean translating in Spanish. Our job is translating opportunities,” Gutiérrez-Graudiņš said.

About two years ago, Azul launched the Rising Leaders Initiative to train community members to advocate for ocean conservation, which includes travel to Washington, D.C., to participate in Ocean Week and the chance to meet with elected officials.

Gutiérrez-Graudiņš is excited about more representation and diversity in her field and said social media has helped make conservation more accessible. She urges people who are interested in the work to connect online and to reach out to organizations like hers that provide on-ramps into the conservation space.

When it comes to what ordinary people can do, Gutiérrez-Graudiņš recommends everyone use as many reusables as they can and call and connect with elected officials and community leaders to work on reducing plastic pollution.

She reassures people who don’t consider themselves environmentally minded enough — “people would tell me, ‘Well, I don’t have a Prius’” — that if they’re being judicious in what they do and mindful of the issues, “that’s still being an environmentalist.”

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com