20 April 2022, Apia - Valuable experiences from different countries have been shared, documented and will play a critical part in formulating plans to fight marine litter and pollution. The successes and lessons were a key part of the “Marine Litter Workshop” organised by the Committing to Sustainable Waste Actions in the Pacific (SWAP) project and held virtually on 6 April 2022.
Guided by the theme “Tackling marine litter: from coastal clean-up to decision making,” the one-day training was designed to help Pacific nations understand the origins and the impact of marine litter. It also aimed to provide participants with practical information on how to prepare and conduct statistically sound clean up campaigns, waste surveys and audits.
The Chief Executive Officer of the Vanuatu Environmental Science Society (VESS), Ms Christina Shaw, highlighted the importance of data collection. Since 2015, VESS has organised and conducted 17 coastal community clean ups in Vanuatu where they have collected 140,360 pieces of litter. Of this number, there were 4533 plastic shopping bags, 3796 polystyrene takeaway containers, 1180 plastic straws, 18,492 plastic food wrappers, 13,161 aluminium cans and some 14,014 plastic bottles. The clean up campaigns involved many different stakeholders and it was the first step towards the formulation of Vanuatu’s single use plastic ban, which became effective in 2018.
“From our seven years of doing community clean ups, we have learnt many valuable lessons and one of them is that data is the difference. If you don’t collect the data and report, it is just a clean up which is not a solution. The data can be used to influence policy and educate. Even small clean ups with messy data can tell you some things,” she said. “Don’t reinvent the wheel - Join the programmes that are already running. They come with tool kits and have very helpful people working on the programmes. You can adapt datasheets to your own needs still keeping it compatible for data upload.”
The message was echoed by other key speakers like the Co-Founder and Programmes Director of Sustainable Coastlines, Mr Camden Howitt, and the Outreach Manager of International Coastal Cleanup (ICC), Ms Sarah Kollar, who shared their experiences and added their own helpful tips for the participants. The Coordinator of the SPREP-based SWAP project, Ms Julie Pillet, emphasised the need not just to collect data but to also share it, something she hopes can become more frequent as part of regional data sharing.
“A clean-up without data collection and sharing is only useful in the short term because the place will stay clean for a few days and weeks but after several weeks, the waste will come back, again and again,” Ms Pillet said. “That's why the data collection and sharing is such a key decision-making tool. This data can help to better understand what the sources are and therefore how to deal with them and provide solutions.”
.png)
Community engagement was another critical lesson shared during the workshop. The experience of Wallis and Futuna showed that in small island countries, it’s not the scale of the clean up but it’s about people. Despite a minute population of 12,000, five associations joined the International Coastal Clean-up day 2021. But like anything else, there will always be challenges such as the limitation of finances to buy things like gloves, bags and to move collected waste to the landfill. Financial assistance from regional or international projects such as SWAP, or even logistical assistance from national or local governments, can be invaluable in carrying out clean up campaigns.
“We understand that it can be expensive for communities to support the transfer of waste to the landfill but this was amongst the challenges identified as we look towards the future. This is why the workshop was important. It is the sharing of different experiences and challenges that will strengthen and inform our decision making in moving forward.”
The workshop was the first step toward a more ambitious initiative, as it is anticipated that the SWAP will hold a virtual hands-on training on how to conduct a safe clean-up including a statistically-sound waste survey and audit in the upcoming weeks. And all organisations, NGOs, Associations, etc. interested in this issue will be welcome to participate in this training
Marine pollution is the result of harmful chemicals entering the ocean, polluted waste waters, industrial, agricultural and residential waste, garbage from ships, and the spread of invasive organisms. A major source of marine pollution is related to plastics intentionally thrown from shore or boats, or are unintentionally carried by winds or streams.
In it’s second year, the SWAP Project is funded by the Agence Française de Développement (AFD) and executed SPREP. It is designed to improve sanitation, environmental, social and economic conditions in Pacific Island Countries and Territories and it is already being rolled out in Fiji, French Polynesia, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Vanuatu, and Wallis and Futuna.
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT SOURCES
AND CAUSES OF MARINE POLLUTION?
- It can be simply due to our behaviours when waste is dumped or abandoned in the environment either on the ground and then the waste will arrive at sea under the effect of wind and rain or directly when the waste is thrown into the sea from the coast or from boats.
- This can also be due to mismanagement of landfills, which can lead to leachate leakage, especially in illegal sites without controls, or to mismanagement of wastewater treatment systems, which can also lead to leakage of sludge that can be contaminated with heavy metals, especially when it come from the wastewater treatment systems of chemical companies, for example.
- Marine pollution can also come from runoff from agricultural fields, which may contain pesticides or fertilisers.
- This can also be caused by accidental events at sea such as lost cargo or even oil or chemical spills from ships damaged at sea.
- But a major source of marine pollution is related to plastics. A report published in 2021 by UNEP " FROM POLLUTION TO SOLUTION. A Global Assessment of Marine Litter And Plastic pollution” states that the amount of plastics in the oceans has been estimated to be between 75 to 199 million tons. The amount of plastic waste entering aquatic ecosystems could nearly triple from 9 million tons per year in 2016 to a projected 23 million tons per year by 2040.
SO HOW DOES MARINE LITTER IMPACT YOU AND ME?
- Marine litter has a direct impact on aquatic life through its lethal effects in marine mammals, turtles, birds and fish as well as corals. Their effects include entanglement, starvation, drowning, laceration of internal tissues, smothering, and toxicological damage.
- Marine litter can also have an indirect impact on climate change. Indeed, plastics can also alter the global carbon cycle through their effect on plankton and marine ecosystems, such as mangroves, seagrasses, corals, etc. And they may also reduce the adaptation and resilience of these ecosystems to climate change.
- Marine litter also has significant financial impact. It can have an impact on fisheries due to resource depletion when nesting or feeding areas are destroyed and polluted, but also due to the altered quality of the fish.
- Marine and plastic pollution has a serious impact on human health. As plastics break down in the marine environment, they transfer microplastics, chemicals, metals, and micropollutants into waters, sediments, and ultimately into marine food chains. Microplastics serve as vectors for pathogenic organisms that are harmful to humans, fish and aquaculture stocks. When microplastics are ingested, they can cause changes in gene and protein expression, inflammation, disruption of feeding behaviour, decreases in growth, changes in brain development, and reduced filtration and respiration rates. Human uptake of microplastics via seafood is therefore likely to pose a serious threat to coastal communities, such as in the Pacific Islands, where marine species are widely eaten.
For further information please contact Ms Julie Pillet, SWAP Coordinator at [email protected] or visit: https://www.sprep.org/SWAP/sustainable-waste-actions-in-the-pacific-swap