UNESCO – EU H2020 LimnoPlast Conference – Diving into freshwater microplastic pollution: Connecting water, environmental and social sciences

The UNESCO – EU H2020 LimnoPlast Conference at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris was a complete success. More than 100 scientists, companies and media representatives attended the conference in person and additionally 80 people used the online broadcast to listen to the presentations.

The conference aimed to put the challenge of freshwater microplastic pollution at the centre of the UN global agenda for sustainable development. Not only knowledge and innovative solutions, generated by the scientists and Early-stage Researchers supported by the H2020 LimnoPlast project, were disseminated, but the conference also provided a global discussion platform on action that can be taken by all stakeholders to reduce the freshwater microplastic pollution and its impact on water resources, ecosystems, wildlife and the ocean.

The Keynote Speaches of the Conference were given by Bethanie Carney Almroth, Denise Mitrano, Sabine Pahl, Lila Durix and Richard Thompson. Further 26 presentations focused the conference on the following topics:

• Sources of microplastics in freshwater ecosystems
• Impacts on freshwater biota and public health
• Social & behavioral science, economics and legal perspectives
• Innovative technological solutions to the microplastic issue

The conference was rounded off by two poster sessions and the concluding science & policy dialogue on microplastics pollution. The panel was moderated by Aude Vidal. The participants of the panel were Moira Tourneur from Zero Waste France, Lucie Padovani from Surfrider Foundation Europe, Xavier Leflaive from OECD and Richard Thompson from the University of Plymouth.