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Microplastics and Emerging Contaminants Under Climate Change and Extreme Hydrological Events: A Nexus Perspective for Environmental Sustainability
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This review paper looks at how climate change, things like floods, droughts, and heatwaves, can make microplastic pollution and other harmful chemicals in our water and soil worse by helping them spread further and interact in unpredictable ways. That matters because these tiny plastic particles can carry toxic chemicals into our drinking water and food supply, and extreme weather (which is becoming more common) may make this problem harder to control. The researchers suggest solutions like better wastewater treatment and safer plastic alternatives, but emphasize that tackling climate change and plastic pollution together, rather than separately, is key to protecting public health.
This perspective examines the interactions among microplastics (MPs), emerging contaminants (ECs), climate change, and extreme hydrological events. Droughts, water scarcity, heatwaves, intense rainfall, and floods can alter the occurrence, mobilisation, transport, fate, and risks of MPs and associated ECs across water, soil, and groundwater systems. The analysis focuses on the context-dependent potential of MPs to act as vectors of ECs, soil–water interactions, and the potential influence of MPs on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. When these stressors co-occur, their combined effects may be additive, synergistic, or antagonistic. Accordingly, the “perfect storm” framing is used here to describe the potential for mutually reinforcing and cascading risks rather than to imply that synergy occurs universally. An integrated perspective therefore helps anticipate worst-case scenarios and move beyond the fragmented assessment of individual stressors. This paper discusses sustainable mitigation and adaptation strategies, including advanced wastewater treatment, water reuse, climate-resilient water management, infrastructure adapted to increasing hydrological variability, climate-smart agriculture, and safer alternatives to conventional plastics and chemicals. Effective implementation combines technological innovation with monitoring, governance, policy action, and public awareness. By framing the microplastics–contaminants–water–soil–climate nexus as an interconnected sustainability challenge, this work aims to support environmental resilience and progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals.
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Climate change and microplastic pollution in aquatic ecosystems: ecological and societal consequences
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This review examines how climate change amplifies the ecological and societal impacts of microplastic pollution in aquatic ecosystems. The study suggests that rising temperatures, extreme weather events, and altered precipitation patterns accelerate plastic fragmentation and dispersal, creating compounding effects on water quality, biodiversity, and coastal communities.
The Crucial Nexus of Microplastics on Ecosystem and Climate Change: Types, Source, Impacts, and Transport
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This review summarizes the current understanding of microplastic types, sources, environmental impacts, and transport pathways across ecosystems. It highlights that microplastics not only harm organisms through ingestion and physical damage but may also influence climate change by affecting soil carbon storage and ocean processes. The review emphasizes that microplastic pollution is a global challenge requiring coordinated solutions across waste management, policy, and consumer behavior.
Interconnected impacts of water resource management and climate change on microplastic pollution and riverine biocoenosis: A review by freshwater ecologists
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Researchers reviewed how river hydrology, water resource management, and climate change interact to influence microplastic pollution in freshwater ecosystems. They found that floods can flush microplastics from catchments, while reservoirs act as both sinks and sources, and extreme weather events driven by climate change tend to concentrate microplastics and threaten aquatic organisms. The study highlights a critical gap in research that jointly addresses these interconnected factors and calls for integrated policy approaches.
Co-exposure of environmental contaminants with unfavorable temperature or humidity/moisture: Joint hazards and underlying mechanisms
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This review examines how extreme temperatures and changes in humidity or soil moisture interact with environmental pollutants to create combined harmful effects on living organisms. Researchers found that both high heat and low moisture conditions can amplify the toxicity of contaminants including microplastics, heavy metals, and pesticides. The study suggests that as climate change increases the frequency of extreme weather, organisms will face escalating risks from these pollutant-climate interactions.
Entangled stressors: a review on the interactions between microplastics and climate change in aquatic ecosystems
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This review pulls together existing research showing that climate change is making microplastic pollution in lakes, rivers, and oceans worse—warmer water speeds up the release of harmful chemicals from plastics and makes fish and other wildlife more likely to accidentally eat them. Since these microplastics and their chemicals can move up the food chain into the seafood we eat, this double threat matters for human health too, though scientists say more research is needed to understand the long-term risks and find solutions.
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