Papers

61,005 results
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Article Tier 2

African implementation of harmonized operational protocols for microplastics in beach sand and surface seawater under the IAEA NUTEC plastic initiative

This paper describes implementation of harmonized microplastic monitoring protocols in African countries through the IAEA NUTEC Plastics initiative, covering beach sand and seawater sampling aligned with the UN SDG 14 monitoring framework. The four-year regional project built analytical capacity across African institutions and generated baseline data for marine plastic pollution levels.

2025
Article Tier 2

IAEA-NUTEC Plastics Initiative: Advancing Global Understanding of Microplastic Pollution in the Ocean

This study describes the IAEA-NUTEC Plastics initiative, which is establishing a coordinated network of laboratories in over 100 countries to implement standardized microplastic sampling and analysis protocols, using radiometric and advanced technologies to improve the accuracy and cross-regional comparability of ocean microplastic data.

2025
Article Tier 2

Development of harmonized operational protocols for the collection, identification and counting of microplastics within the IAEA NUTEC Plastics initiative

This paper describes the development of harmonized protocols for collecting, identifying, and counting microplastics under the IAEA NUTEC Plastics initiative, designed to enable comparable data across countries. The protocols cover seawater surface, beach sand, and biota sampling using nuclear and complementary analytical techniques.

2025
Article Tier 2

Identifying opportunities for harmonized microplastics and mesoplastics monitoring for Caribbean Small Island Developing States using a spatiotemporal assessment of beaches in South Eleuthera, The Bahamas

Researchers assessed microplastic and mesoplastic pollution across 16 beaches with different coastal exposures in the Bahamas, finding that microplastics were the dominant debris type at 74 percent of samples, with significant differences between locations and seasons. The study highlights that Caribbean Small Island Developing States lack standardized monitoring protocols for microplastic pollution, leaving them without the data needed to participate effectively in global treaty negotiations. The findings point toward opportunities for developing harmonized monitoring approaches across the Caribbean region.

2023 Marine Pollution Bulletin 18 citations
Article Tier 2

A breakthrough in the harmonization of microplastics monitoring protocols in latin american region

This paper describes progress toward harmonizing microplastic monitoring protocols across Latin American countries, aiming to create consistent, comparable data from a region with significant plastic pollution challenges but historically fragmented scientific approaches. Standardized monitoring is a prerequisite for effective regional policy and for understanding how plastic pollution flows through South and Central American river systems.

2026 Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
Article Tier 2

A breakthrough in the harmonization of microplastics monitoring protocols in latin american region

This paper describes progress toward harmonizing microplastic monitoring protocols across Latin American countries, aiming to create consistent, comparable data from a region with significant plastic pollution challenges but historically fragmented scientific approaches. Standardized monitoring is a prerequisite for effective regional policy and for understanding how plastic pollution flows through South and Central American river systems.

2026 Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
Article Tier 2

IAEA-NUTEC plastics initiative: Contributing to the global understanding of microplastic pollution in the ocean

This review examines the IAEA NUTEC Plastics initiative, a global network spanning 86 countries launched in 2019 to harmonize microplastic monitoring methods in marine and coastal environments, build national research capacity, and support achievement of Sustainable Development Goal 14.1 on reducing marine pollution.

2024 Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
Article Tier 2

IAEA-NUTEC plastics initiative: Contributing to the global understanding of microplastic pollution in the ocean

This review examines the IAEA NUTEC Plastics initiative, a global network spanning 86 countries launched in 2019 to harmonize microplastic monitoring methods in marine and coastal environments, build national research capacity, and support achievement of Sustainable Development Goal 14.1 on reducing marine pollution.

2024 Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
Article Tier 2

Tackling plastic pollution together: Examples of international collaboration for the monitoring and reporting of microlitter (including microplastics).

Researchers developed an international laboratory network of 15 facilities across Vanuatu, Belize, South Africa, Sri Lanka, the Maldives, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Malaysia through the Commonwealth Litter Programme and Ocean Country Partnership Programme, providing harmonized equipment, protocols, and training to enable comparable microplastic monitoring in Global South countries. This collaborative infrastructure approach demonstrates how large laboratory networks with standardized methods are essential for producing large-scale baseline assessments of microplastic pollution.

2024 Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
Article Tier 2

Standardised protocol for monitoring microplastics in sediments. Deliverable 4.2.

This paper presents a standardized protocol for monitoring microplastics in marine sediments, developed as part of an international project to harmonize sampling and analysis methods across different research groups. Having consistent protocols is essential for generating comparable data to track plastic pollution trends over time and location.

2018 IOC of UNESCO (Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission) 20 citations
Article Tier 2

A field and laboratory manual for sampling, processing and reporting microplastics in coastal and marine environments

This paper presents a comprehensive, standardized field and laboratory guideline for sampling, processing, and reporting microplastics in coastal and marine environments, developed through international collaboration. The harmonized protocols aim to improve comparability of data across global monitoring programmes.

2025 Frontiers in Marine Science 4 citations
Article Tier 2

Abundance and characterization of microplastics on sandy beaches along the coastal area of Belize

Researchers quantified and characterized microplastic abundance on sandy beaches along the coastal zone of Belize, establishing baseline contamination data for a region of Central America and the Caribbean where such pollution assessments are critically lacking.

2025 Marine Pollution Bulletin
Article Tier 2

Method for Quantifying and Characterization of Microplastics in Sand Beaches

This paper proposes a standardized method for sampling and characterizing microplastics in beach sand to improve comparability across studies. Consistent methodology is critical because current variation in field and lab techniques makes it difficult to combine or compare data from different research groups.

2020 Revista Internacional de Contaminación Ambiental 29 citations
Systematic Review Tier 1

Where and how? A systematic review of microplastic pollution on beaches in Latin America and the caribbean (LAC)

Microplastic contamination on Latin American and Caribbean beaches ranged from 0 to 5,458 particles/m2, with the highest accumulations found on ocean island beaches. Brazilian beaches accounted for 43% of all studies, while large stretches of coastline in Cuba, Venezuela, and Argentina had no data, and inconsistent methodologies prevented meaningful cross-study comparison.

2022 Environmental Pollution 31 citations
Article Tier 2

Microlitter Quality assurance and Quality control approaches to enable the comparability of data in European Seas

Researchers examined quality assurance and quality control (QA/QC) approaches for microlitter monitoring in European seas, identifying the lack of harmonized protocols across sampling and analysis methods as a key barrier to producing comparable microplastic data across different national and regional monitoring programs.

2024 Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
Article Tier 2

Methods for sampling, processing, identification,and quantification of microplastics in the marine environment

This paper reviews and compares the various methods used to collect, process, identify, and quantify microplastics across different environmental samples. It highlights the lack of standardized protocols as a major obstacle to comparing results across studies and calls for methodological harmonization.

2020 Oceanography in Japan 12 citations
Article Tier 2

Contamination of the environment with plastic debris : “Development, improvement, and evaluation of monitoring methods”

This doctoral thesis developed and evaluated methods for monitoring plastic debris contamination in the environment, covering both large debris and microplastics. The research addresses the lack of standardized monitoring protocols, which has been a major obstacle to comparing microplastic pollution levels across different studies and regions.

2020 ERef Bayreuth (University of Bayreuth) 1 citations
Article Tier 2

Source, sea and sink—A holistic approach to understanding plastic pollution in the Southern Caribbean

Researchers took a holistic approach to characterizing plastic pollution across surface water, subsurface, sediment, and biota in the Southern Caribbean, finding that despite heavy tourism and fishing reliance, quantitative plastic data for the region had been largely absent.

2021 The Science of The Total Environment 47 citations
Article Tier 2

Methodological similarities and discrepancies among studies on microplastics in South American continental aquatic environments

Researchers conducted a systematic review of 57 studies on microplastic pollution in South American continental aquatic environments, identifying significant methodological discrepancies in sampling, detection limits, and sample preparation that limit cross-study comparability and proposing standardization approaches.

2025 Anais da Academia Brasileira de Ciências
Article Tier 2

Microplastics pollution on Colombian Central Caribbean beaches

Researchers conducted a baseline survey of microplastic contamination on Colombia's Central Caribbean Coast beaches, documenting MP types, sizes, and polymer compositions for the first time in that region and finding primarily secondary microplastics from fragmented larger debris.

2021 Marine Pollution Bulletin 133 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics in Latin America and the Caribbean: On the adoption of reporting standards and quality assurance and quality control protocols

This review of 193 microplastic studies from Latin America and the Caribbean found that over 80% lacked standardized analytical protocols and quality assurance controls, making cross-study comparisons unreliable. Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, and Chile contributed the most research, with marine ecosystems and biota (primarily fish) as the most studied targets.

2022 Environmental Advances 26 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastic pollution on sandy beaches of Puerto Rico

Researchers sampled sand from six northern beaches of Puerto Rico to determine microplastic abundance and composition, documenting the extent of microplastic pollution on Caribbean island coastal beaches that are considered biodiversity hotspots.

2021 Marine Pollution Bulletin 36 citations
Article Tier 2

Microlitter Quality assurance and Quality control approaches to enable the comparability of data in European Seas

This review examines the lack of harmonized quality assurance and quality control protocols for microlitter monitoring across European seas, arguing that standardized QA/QC frameworks are essential for producing comparable and reliable microplastic data to support EU policy processes.

2024 Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
Article Tier 2

Assessing the need for harmonized marine debris monitoring and equity to support participation in the Global Plastics Treaty negotiations by Caribbean SIDS

This study argues that Caribbean Small Island Developing States (SIDS) need harmonized marine debris monitoring systems and equitable participation in global plastics treaty negotiations. These islands face disproportionate microplastic pollution from ocean currents while having contributed little to global plastic production.

2023