Towards a comprehensive European strategy to assess and monitor aquatic litter including plastic and microplastic pollution

In line with the European Green Deal, notably the EU zero pollution action plan, a successful proposal will contribute to the impacts of this Destination related to addressing pollution for a healthier ocean, seas and waters.

Project results are expected to contribute to all of the following expected outcomes:

• harmonised and coordinated approaches across the EU for monitoring aquatic litter in European freshwater and marine environments;
• improved knowledge and FAIR data enabling a comprehensive assessment of litter sources, pathways, degradation, spatial distribution including on the seabed and sediment, hotspots and areas of accumulation as well as the resulting risks for aquatic biodiversity at EU scale and at basin level;
• implementation of optimised, validated, harmonised, cost-effective, and pan-European monitoring strategies for freshwater, coastal and marine environments, which are taken up by relevant environmental authorities in the EU;
• strengthened cooperation between scientific institutions and relevant environmental authorities responsible for monitoring pollution in freshwater and marine environments at EU and national level, fostering competence in monitoring aquatic litter in the EU;
• implementation of related EU policies, in particular baselines, threshold-setting and identification of changes in levels of plastic litter and microplastics in freshwaters as well as all coastal and marine compartments under the MSFD.

The monitoring and assessment of litter including plastic, microplastic and nanoplastic pollution in Europe’s marine and freshwater environment remains fragmented and diverse, although progress has been made under the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) for monitoring quantities and impacts of marine litter and harmonised guidance for monitoring has been produced^[1]. However, large discrepancies between countries, marine regions, litter types and environmental compartments can still be observed and large data and knowledge gaps persist on the sources, pathways, distribution and concentrations of litter in marine and freshwater, which are impeding comprehensive assessments of the extent of litter pollution including microplastics in EU waters. Different approaches for assessing and monitoring litter pollution in freshwater and marine environments are further hindering such assessments.

Despite the large amount of literature and recent scientific advancements to develop reliable and harmonised analytical research methodologies, guidance, protocols and reference materials, pan-European approaches and strategies that set out what to measure, where to measure, when to measure and how to measure are missing.

Actions should in particular inform monitoring and assessments, including threshold setting, under the Marine Strategy Framework Directive and more broadly support its implementation, the implementation of the Water Framework Directive, the zero pollution action plan, the evaluation and possible revision of the Single Use Plastics Directive as well as EU initiatives on microplastics (such as under REACH and reduction of plastic pellets releases). Actions will also contribute to the planned Global Agreement to End Plastic Pollution and the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development.

Proposals should demonstrate how they will contribute significantly at EU level to all of the following:

• enhance data acquisition, quality assurance and quality control approaches, and effective use of available data from source-to-sea including lake, riverine, groundwater, coastline, sea surface and seabed monitoring of (plastic) litter including (different types of) microplastics, making use of diverse data sources (incl. data collected by citizen science initiatives) and new technologies to improve quantitative knowledge on pollution sources, pathways, spatial distribution and accumulation zones, including on the seabed, leakage and transport at EU scale and at basin level;
• develop scientific approaches as well as environmentally relevant reference materials and matrices needed to design harmonised methods for detecting, identifying, classifying, and quantifying plastic and microplastic pollution in realistic conditions, which will enable a comprehensive assessment of the exposure of aquatic biodiversity to litter;
• improve tools and methodologies for efficient and where possible autonomous sampling, developing rapid and reliable analytical methods and imaging techniques for seabed macro litter and monitoring of microplastic pollution to address policy needs;
• develop analytical methods for detecting, characterising and monitoring nanoplastic particles in aquatic environments;
• develop, improve and implement fit-for-purpose, optimised, validated, harmonised and cost-effective monitoring strategies for freshwater, coastal and marine environments and collaborative data collection across borders, which need to be implemented on a sufficient scale to assess the problem;
• enable the uptake of monitoring data in large scale databases (e.g. the European Marine Observation and Data Network (EMODnet) and the European Digital Twin of the Ocean) following FAIR principles, to ensure public data accessibility and use and foster a comprehensive assessments of litter pollution at European level.

The action is expected to build on the work and engage with the Technical Group on Marine Litter under the Marine Strategy Framework Directive, which is co-led by the JRC. It should build on the outcomes and establish links with relevant projects, including projects funded under the EU Mission Restore our Ocean and Waters and its Mediterranean lighthouse (e.g. the projects PlasticPirates – Go Europe!^[2], UPSTREAM^[3], INSPIRE^[4] and topic HORIZON-MISS-2025-03-OCEAN-02: A toolbox for public authorities to address marine plastics and litter from river-to-ocean), the EUROqCHARM^[5] project and JPI Oceans microplastics projects.

The action should also contribute to regional and global efforts on monitoring plastic pollution in the ocean and waters, by building links with activities of relevant regional seas conventions, the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) and contributing to the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development. Proposals should also build on and contribute to the GEO Blue Planet initiative and the Integrated Marine Debris Observing System (IMDOS) in cooperation with GOOS and UNEP. Proposals are encouraged to liaise with and consider the services offered by, where relevant, European research infrastructures^[6].

International cooperation is encouraged, including with All-Atlantic Ocean Research and Innovation Alliance partner countries. This topic is part of a coordination initiative between ESA and the European Commission on Earth System Science. The EC-ESA Earth System Science Initiative enables EC and ESA to support complementary collaborative projects funded on the EC side through Horizon Europe and on the ESA side through the FutureEO programme.

[1] JRC Publications Repository - Guidance on the monitoring of marine litter in European seas (europa.eu).

[2] https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/101088822

[3] https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/101112877

[4] https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/101112879

[5] https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/101003805

[6] The catalogue of European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures (ESFRI) research infrastructures portfolio can be browsed from ESFRI website https://ri-portfolio.esfri.eu/