MORE4NATURE
Coastwatch is delighted to be partner in a four year project to support and improve implementation and enforcement of EU environmental law. This is to be achieved by more informed citizens participation and using citizen science and citizen generated environmental data to help achieve the goals of the laws. This international EU funded Horizon project has a great team of partners with complementary expertise (see the international project website here).
YEAR 1 / 2024
Coastwatch has three case studies under a zero pollution theme:
-- 1 --
Track and support implementation of the Nitrates Directive in Ireland and the state of our estuaries and coastal waters where high nitrate levels are causing eutrophication with algal blooms, opportunistic macro algae carpets and a loss of seagrass.
-- 2 --
Track and support implementation and enforcement of the Single Use Plastics (SUP) Directive from what is found in marine litter to offer in cafes and shops.
-- 3 --
Establish how slipways and sea stairs are cleaned at present and issues with unauthorised chemical use. Then focus on one area as demonstration site to have safe surfaces to walk and drive on to the sea, but at the same time avoid water pollution and harmful chemical use.
Tracking and research involves citizen science – collecting data and information on the law. Also finding out who is officially in charge of what and who should enforce the EU laws which have been transposed into national laws and where they fit in wider policy and responsibility frame. For the SUP law it has been reporting on changes in marine litter and then on availability of single use plastics which have been banned since 2021.
Support is much wider and ranges from use of that data to inform people of risks, to engaging with citizens to jointly search for practical ways to improve matters and highlight good practise and results. It might be highlighting the difference between Nitrate discharges from a ploughed coastal field with field drains delivering surplus water directly into the bay and a well designed wetland or hedge buffer which intercept and hold run off after heavy rain.
INFORMATION
Regulation in the Marine Environment
This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon Europe research and innovation programme under grant agreement No. 101133983.