By Bizodisha Bureau, Bhubaneswar, July 30, 2017: The internationally acclaimed sand sculptor from Odisha Sudarsan Pattnaik will highlight global tragedy for oceans and sea life through sand art in Singapore International Sand Sculpting Championship 2017.

As many as 15 artists from countries like Australia, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, France, Italy, Mexico, Netherlands, Poland, Russia, Spain, Portugal and Togo. The competition will be held from August 28 to 31 at Santosa.

Sudarsan said he would highlight the hazards of ocean pollution through his sand art as Plastic never goes away. “Plastic is increasingly finding its way into our oceans and onto our beaches”, the internationally acclaimed artists on Sunday to “Bizodisha.com.

Plastic waste is readily transported long distances from source areas and concentrates in gyres, systems of rotating ocean currents due to its low density. All five of the Earth’s major ocean gyres are inundated with plastic pollution. But it’s not limited to the gyres; studies estimate there are 15–51 trillion pieces of plastic in the world’s oceans — from the equator to the poles, from Arctic ice sheets to the sea floor. In fact, researchers claim that not even one square mile of Surface Ocean anywhere on earth is free of plastic pollution.

The famed sand artist said he will create a sand sculpture on “Save Ocean Save Earth” as all over the world the oceans are being polluted by plastic garbage, oil spillages.

Plastics pollution has a direct and deadly effect on wildlife. Thousands of seabirds and sea turtles, seals and other marine mammals are killed each year after ingesting plastic or getting entangled in it. “We must stop this pollution to save our earth from man-made hazards,” he said.

Today billions of pounds of plastic can be found in swirling convergences making up about 40 percent of the world’s ocean surfaces.

In fact, Sudarsan had raised this vital issue through his sand art on the sea beach at Puri on the occasion of World Environment Day last month.

Sudarsan has taken part in more than 50 International sand sculpture championships across the world and brought laurels to the country with scores of awards.