Event

The campus community is invited to join the virtual seminar hosted by the Department of Life Sciences, under the Faculty of Science and Technology (FST) by Dr. La Daana Kanhai on the topic, Plastic Pollution in the Caribbean Sea: Perspectives from Leg 4 of eXXpedition’s Round the World (RTW) Voyage.

This seminar is part of the Department’s Seminar Series. Don’t miss this one happening on July 30 at noon online. 

Join in here: https://ca.bbcollab.com/collab/ui/session/guest/7c4adc3d42f549dbbb4527ed784c5a89.

Please note: If you have any difficulty accessing this link, copy and paste the link into your respective browser.  

Abstract

Within the past decade, plastic pollution in the marine environment emerged as one of the key environmental issues facing Planet Earth. Global concern about plastics in the marine environment stems from their ubiquity, persistence and the threat they pose to marine organisms. Thus far, the international community has employed a suite of multi-pronged approaches to tackle this environmental issue. eXXpedition is a series of all-women voyages that is focused on the issue of plastic pollution in the ocean. eXXpedition’s Round the World (RTW) voyage (2019 – 2022) is comprised of multiple legs and is focused on the collection of relevant global scientific data that will inform effective solutions. Between 29th November to 8th December 2019, leg 4 of the RTW voyage was conducted in the Caribbean between Antigua, Bonaire and Aruba.

As one of the ten guest crew members on leg 4 of the RTW voyage, I will present the work that was accomplished as part of eXXpedition’s

(i) science-based programme (sampling various environmental compartments for microplastics and macroplastics, examining the issue of waste management on land)

(ii)  and, public education and awareness activities (blogs, local community engagement activities). I will also present some of the lessons that were learnt from this specific scientific expedition.

For more about Dr. Kanhai, please see this August 2019 UWI TODAY  article here: https://sta.uwi.edu/uwitoday/archive/august_2019/article7.asp.