Plastic Pollution in the Oceans: Baseline, Impacts and Policies
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Overview
Marine litter is often defined as any persistent, manufactured or processed material, which has been discarded, disposed or abandoned in, and transported to marine and coastal habitats. Unfortunately, plastic items (macro-, micro- and nanoplastics) are generally the main constituent of marine debris due to their high production and versatility. We seek articles to be published in the forthcoming Special Issue of Ocean and Coastal Research (a high-quality and free-of-charge open-access scientific journal) on the topic “Plastic pollution in the oceans: baseline, impacts and policies”. This special issue will be edited by Professors Tarin Cristino Frota Mont`Alverne (UFC), Julia Motte-Baumvolvol (Université Paris Cité), Rivelino Martins Cavalcante (Labomar/UFC) and Marcelo de Oliveira Soares (Labomar/UFC).
We welcome manuscripts from any research group worldwide.
The Special Issue of OCR aims to discuss the institutional and legal challenges related to the global problem of plastic pollution in seas and oceans in order to contribute to the promotion of both national and international public policies for the sustainable management of plastic waste in the marine ecosystem. Please keep in mind that OCR is primarily an ocean sciences journal, meaning that manuscripts dealing *exclusively* with e.g., legal aspects, public policies, sanitary engineering solutions etc. do not fit 100% into the journal's scope, unless if they are carried out under an oceanographic approach.
Furthermore, the manuscripts should address at least one of the following topics:
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- Concrete suggestions regarding the marine plastic pollution crisis, such as the development and adaptation of national and international public policies, but also regional and international ocean governance.
- Characterization of micro- and macroplastic sources in marine and coastal area, including biota, water, and sediments;
- Investigation of the most appropriate legislations for the mitigation of marine plastic pollution.
- Considerations on interactions with other public blue policies directly or indirectly linked to the marine plastic pollution issue, such as policies on climate change, international trade, taxation, tourism, maritime transport, offshore energy, solid waste and health policies.
- Marine ecosystems and biodiversity, invasive marine species (e.g., litter-rafting species), and impacts of plastics and legal challenges.
- Traditional communities and marine biodiversity, liability and compensation.
- Governance and marine plastic pollution.
- Inequalities intrinsic to marine plastic pollution: environmental injustices for women, the poor and traditional communities.
- The necessary transition to the circular economy in the context of the new legally binding agreement on marine plastic pollution: which strategies to adopt?
- Interactions between marine plastic pollution and climate change: ocean acidification as a phenomenon compounded by both issues.
- The importance of traditional coastal communities in achieving nature-based solutions (NbS): how to implement them in the new blue agreement?
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Guest Editors:
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Associate Professor at the University of Paris, where she teaches and researches in Public International Law and International Economic Law. Since then, she has broadened her research work to focus on normative issues related to sustainable development goals and the work of international organizations (WTO, WHO, OECD, UNESCO and EU). She now focuses her work on the relationship between poverty, sustainability and international law, as a Visiting researcher at the Institute for European and Comparative Law (Oxford University). |
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| Julia Motte-Baumvol | ||||||
| Université Paris | ||||||
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Professor at the Federal University of Ceará on Law School (UFC). She was Coordinator of the Postgraduate Program in Law at the Federal University of Ceará (2016-2019). Researcher at the Jean Monnet Center of Excellence (European Union). She was Visiting Professor at the University Paris-Saclay, University of Paris, and University La Rochelle. Research productivity fellow CNPq- PQ (Brazil).
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| Tarin Montalverne | ||||||
| FADIR-UFC | ||||||
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Associate professor of LABOMAR-UFC and of the Graduate Program in Tropical Marine Sciences (UFC). Research Productivity Fellow at CNPq (Brazil) and he worked at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution on the assessment of marine plastic pollution and oil hydrocarbon contamination using molecular markers approach. |
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| Rivelino Martins Cavalcante | ||||||
| LABOMAR-UFC | ||||||
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Associate professor of LABOMAR-UFC and of the Graduate Program in Tropical Marine Sciences (UFC). Research Productivity Fellow at CNPq (Brazil; 1D) and he worked at the Autonomous University of Barcelona, Università del Salento (Lecce, Italy), and as visiting professor at the Leibniz Center for Tropical Marine Research (ZMT) (Alexander von Humboldt Fellow). Coordinator of the I-plastics project in Brazil that analyzes the dispersion of microplastics on the tropical coast in comparison with systems in Italy, Spain and Portugal. |
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| Marcelo Oliveira Soares | ||||||
| LABOMAR-UFC | ||||||
The deadline for submission to this Special Article Collection is November 30th, 2023.
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and indicate this special article collection in your cover letter.
