Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh says, National Centre for Coastal Research (NCCR), Chennai found more than 50% composition of marine litter was by single use plastics from 2018-2021 at various beaches of India
A National level workshop conducted with participants from various research institutes, stakeholders, and policymakers, industrial and academic experts to prepare a roadmap for formulating the National Marine litter Policy
Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Science & Technology; Minister of State (Independent Charge) Earth Sciences; MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh said that under the Pan-India coastal monitoring, beach clean-up activities are being undertaken by National Centre for Coastal Research (NCCR), Chennai at regular intervals at various beaches of India, to assess the marine litter from 2018-2021 and it was found that more than 50% composition was contributed by single use plastics.
In a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha today, Dr Jitendra Singh said, the Beach litter survey has further revealed that the maximum litter accumulation occurs in the backshore than in the intertidal zone. Moreover, urban beaches have higher accumulation rates than the rural beaches. He said, samples from coastal water, sediment, beach, and biota are analyzed for micro/ meso/ macro plastics pollution. An increase in the abundance of microplastics is observed along the east coast of India, during the monsoon. The stations nearer to the river mouth had higher numbers of microplastic concentrations.
The Minister said, NCCR, an attached office of MoES is undertaking research activities in quantifying litter in the beaches (macro, meso, & microplastics) in the coastal water, sediment, and different biota including commercial fishes, bivalves, and crustacea. Data on the level of micro-plastic pollution was generated for the east coast of India and the west coast is proposed to be assessed shortly. A National level workshop was conducted with the participants from various research institutes, stakeholders, and policymakers, industrial and academic experts to prepare a roadmap for formulating the National Marine litter Policy.
The objectives of the UN Clean Seas programme are- An urgent and concerted action against marine litter and plastic pollution by setting up a National marine litter action plan to quantify the total marine litter footprint in Indian coastal waters and to reduce the flow of plastics into the ocean and Creating awareness to the public on marine litter and plastic pollution.
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(Release ID :234396)