Coastal ecosystems in Colombia open to the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, a marginal basin of the Atlantic Ocean, providing critical environmental services to local communities. Mismanaged industrial and domestic waste pollutes and degrades such ecosystems. Here we present the preparatory works for marine litter research and the progress achieved so far by the Colombian Marine Environmental Quality Surveillance Network known as REDCAM. In 2017, joint working groups involving researchers and environmental authorities agreed on an inter-institutional roadmap for marine litter monitoring in Colombia. Five thematic axes were considered, namely research, monitoring, technical capacity building, communication and technical-regulatory articulation. Today, a country wide environmental database on marine litter pollution encompasses 40 beaches and 33 mangroves, together with case studies on impacts and risks from microplastics over lagoons, fishing resources and human well-being in vulnerable areas. The database shows how differences in geography, socioeconomics, climate and coastal dynamics amongst the two Colombian coasts determine ecosystem impacts. It shows, for instance, that the areas closer to large population centers are the most litter polluted. Colombia’s main challenges to address marine littering focus on: 1) increasing scientific knowledge in support of environmental management; 2) prevent pollution through awareness and education; 3) strengthen the political framework for environmental protection; and 4) reduce waste discharge from terrestrial and marine sources.

Primary Presenter: Miquel Canals, Universitat de Barcelona (miquelcanals@ub.edu)

Authors:

Ostin Garcés-Ordóñez, Universitat de Barcelona and INVEMAR Colombia  (ostingarces@ub.edu)

Miquel Canals, Universitat de Barcelona  (miquelcanals@ub.edu)