INVEMAR produce scientific information with the implementation of REMARCO protocols for monitoring microplastics in Colombia

Marine pollution in Colombia is caused by multiple factors, including precarious basic sanitation conditions and deficient treatment systems, which contribute to the inadequate disposal of liquid and solid waste generated in socioeconomic (agriculture, mining, tourism, among others) and domestic activities of the coastal and inland population. Colombia has approximately 1,932 km of coastline in the Caribbean and 1,599 km in the Pacific. In these coastal areas, activities are developed that generate plastic waste, of which it is estimated that about 65% is disposed of in open dumps or in natural bodies of water, where it becomes microplastics, which accumulate in marine and coastal ecosystems, deteriorating environmental quality and generating various impacts that endanger biodiversity, the availability of resources and the economy of the communities.Between 2017 and 2024, INVEMAR has carried out also studies that show the problem of contamination by marine litter in mangroves, beaches, and coastal waters of Colombia, and the possible ecological impacts. The monitoring of microplastics was consolidated in prioritized an evaluated on 45 sand beaches stations, 47 Marine-coastal wáter stations, 19 estuarine and river wáter stations, and 30 stations in mangroves in the Caribbean and Colombian Pacific, within the framework of the monitoring system of the Surveillance Network for the conservation and protection of marine-coastal waters REDCAM, where the methodologies developed by the Network of stressors of Latin America and the Caribbean - REMARCO have been implemented in 17 Latin American countries. The information collected allows keeping the national technical reports of the state of contamination by microplastics updated, and contributes to the regional vision within the framework of the REMARCO Network, whose activities have been made possible through the technical corporation projects financed by the International Atomic Energy Agency - IAEA, where the technical capacities of the region have been strengthened to generate the data that support the report of indicator 14.1.1b of SDG 14.Monitoring activities led by INVEMAR show the presence of high amounts of marine debris in ecosystems such as mangroves, beaches and on the seabed, as well as trash floating in the waters of bays in both the Caribbean and the Colombian Pacific. On the beaches, the abundances of microplastics, (particles with sizes between 5 mm and 300 micrometers), ranged from 3.2 to 4,604 items/m2. The most abundant types of microplastics were of secondary origin, associated with the fragmentation of larger plastic waste, present in the environment due to inadequate final disposal; fragments were the most abundant microplastics , followed by foams and pellets. These results show that there is plastic pollution in the coastal areas of Colombia; therefore, it is crucial that national policies be developed to establish mitigation measures to address the impacts of these pollutants on ecosystems, based on updated scientific information.