While the world’s leaders are debating our planet’s future in Glasgow at COP26, the British High Commissioner welcomed two well-known local environmental activists and plastic warriors.

Katherine Ward met with Neil Agius and Mark Galea Pace at the UK commission in Malta to speak about the pollution of the Maltese islands and sea, as well as climate change.

“We have a duty to offer a better future to our children,” Agius and Pace said.

Neil Agius has set record after record in long distance ocean swimming, doing a whopping 125km from Linosa to Gozo this summer.

And he does so with a cause – to raise awareness about plastic sea pollution for his Wave of Change initiative, where he asked his supporters to collect six pieces of plastic from the sea.

In the meantime, fitness instructor Pace isn’t sitting still either. Collecting donations for Nature Trust, the sea lover did a three-day solo cleanup challenge around the Maltese islands for the same reason as Agius: to raise awareness about marine litter.

The environmentalists share their love for the sea and their passion about keeping it clean, so while recalling their experiences during multiple cleanups around Malta and Gozo, both Neil and Mark sounded their warning that time is running out for all of us to do our part and reverse climate change.