12 October 2023
NODC brought its experience as a marine litter data manager in the EMODnet Chemistry project to the final conference of EUROqCHARM, held in Brussels on 11-12 October this year.
View the NODC presentation Data reporting as a tool for policy: European Marine Observation and Data network – EMODnet
Launched in November 2020, EUROqCHARM is a project funded by EU Horizon 2020, the EU's 2014-2020 programme for research and innovation. The project aims to develop optimised, validated and harmonised methods for monitoring and assessing plastics in the environment, as well as draft standards and recommendations for policy and legislation. The EUROqCHARM consortium has achieved these objectives through a multi-stakeholder approach that has brought together 15 relevant stakeholders involved in the study and monitoring of plastic pollution in Europe. NODC has participated in the project, helping to align European practices with global policies and procedures and coordinating the data management plan.
The final conference had the difficult task of summing up three years of intensive work, ensuring the resulting impact and looking to the future.
Check the program
The event was attended by 80 participants and 26 speakers. The latter were mainly from Europe: scientists and data experts from research institutes and national environmental monitoring bodies, but also citizen scientists from international non-profit organisations, entrepreneurs and members of the European Commission. Also present were representatives from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the Ministry of the Environment, Japan, and the NOAA Marine Debris Program.
Check the speaker bios
EUROqCHARM has improved the understanding of the methods needed to monitor plastic pollution and has helped to establish national, EU-wide and global monitoring standards that will be applicable to future plastic pollution control measures. Furthermore, the recommended harmonised methods will improve the ability to acquire relevant and standardised knowledge on plastics in the global environment and impacts on biota that can be efficiently compared.
