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Degradation of Fibrous Microplastics in the Marine Environment
Published in Judith S. Weis, Francesca De Falco, Mariacristina Cocca, Polluting Textiles, 2022
Christian Lott, Andreas Eich, Miriam Weber
The biodegradation of plastics as a general mitigation of global marine plastic pollution is unrealistic. Biodegradation of conventional polymers in favourable settings is too slow and may not happen at all in human time scale in most scenarios. There is no natural remedy for (marine) plastic pollution to be expected. All other means to reduce littering and any other unwanted introduction of plastic into the oceans and the natural environment in general must be strongly intensified. However, for applications in which plastics are used in the natural environment such as in fisheries and aquaculture, and applications with a high probability of plastics ending up in the environment, such as from abrasion of car tires or shedding microfibres from textiles, biodegradable materials could contribute to decreasing the accumulation of plastics. Environmental biodegradability as an option, even as a legal requirement for high-loss applications, should be further evaluated. As examples, with the known high share of littered cigarette butts globally, or the insufficient management for contaminated waste, such as the ‘dirty third’ (some of which contain fibrous materials such as hygiene products), strictly applied full environmental biodegradability would have a measurable positive impact on the reduction of persistent plastic pollution in nature. This could accompany measures of reduction at the source at higher levels of the waste hierarchy. Although the acute effects of biodegradable plastics may be similar, at least they would not last ‘forever’ and could lead to a (much) slower accumulation.
Ocean Biological Deserts
Published in Ajai, Rimjhim Bhatnagar, Desertification and Land Degradation, 2022
Because of the dire need for corrective action, many national to global attempts have been made in this direction. The UN Convention on the Law of the Sea is such an initiative. It provides an international legal framework for controlling plastic contamination. On regional levels too, such initiatives have been taken, e.g. the Regional Seas Programme of UNEP proposed relevant activities for 13 regional seas (major being the Mediterranean, Baltic, Black, Caspian and the Red Sea). At the national level, US Marine Debris Research, Prevention, and Reduction Act and Marine Plastic Pollution Research and Control Act are key bodies working in the mitigation of plastic pollution.
The current legal framework for pollution control in the Niger River Basin relative to SDG 6.3
Published in Water International, 2022
Sidy Ba, Emmanuel U. Onyeabor, Anene N. Moneke
Pollution of transboundary rivers has lately become a major global environmental concern. One of the hottest topics of aquatic pollution is the high and increasing release of plastic debris into the marine environment occurring through various pathways (Kershaw & Rochman, 2015). Rivers are reported as a significant route of entry of global marine plastic pollution from lands (Schmidt et al., 2017). Of the estimated 1.15–2.41 million tons of plastic materials currently flowing into the oceans every year, the Niger River is among the world’s top 10 plastic-polluting rivers of seas and oceans (Lebreton et al., 2017). The river is the third longest in Africa after the Nile and Congo. Its active watershed covers 1.5 million km2, encompassing nine countries in West Africa (Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea, Mali, Niger and Nigeria) and Central Africa (Cameroon and Chad).