Integrated assessment and monitoring of emerging pollutants in the marine environment

Contaminants of emerging concern including pharmaceutical products, endocrine disruptors and contaminants found in personal care products, including micro plastics and nano plastics, are increasingly detected in surface and marine waters, as well as in marine sediments. There are concerns about the impact of these contaminants on the marine environment, ecosystems and biodiversity as some of these substances exhibit impacts on aquatic organisms at very low concentrations, in particular on their reproduction and development. There are also concerns about the accumulation of these contaminants in different parts of the marine environment, including sediments and deep sea marine ecosystems and biota.

Also, changes in the marine environment driven by the changing climate system (such as increases in water temperature, changes in salinity and in pH levels, increase in invasive species, etc.) may further influence the possible impacts of the contaminants of emerging concerns on the marine environment, ecosystems and biota.

The projects are expected to develop and test integrated assessment and effect-based monitoring of impacts of contaminants of emerging concern on marine environment, ecosystems and biodiversity, including testing methods that are aligned with the relevant OECD guidance[[ For instance as regards endocrine disruptors, see Revised Guidance Document 150 on Standardised Test Guidelines for Evaluating Chemicals for Endocrine Disruption | en | OECD.]], and where relevant develop new contaminant thresholds. The projects are expected to adopt an integrated and systemic approach to the assessment of impacts, including not only impacts on marine biota but also the circulation, accumulation, magnification, persistence and degradation of the contaminants of emerging concern in marine environment and ecosystems (including marine sediments and deep-sea ecosystems) and their interaction with the changing marine environment. Projects should contribute to the improvement of understanding of the spatial and temporal distribution patterns of contaminants of emerging concern in marine environment and should close knowledge gaps as regards the characteristics, occurrence and impacts of those contaminants on marine environment and marine biodiversity. The projects should furthermore contribute to the understanding of impacts of contaminants of emerging concern on marine biota and on marine biodiversity and provide basis for the design of effective future measures for the protection of marine biodiversity from the impacts of such contaminants.

The projects should recommend best practices in monitoring of the circulation of these contaminants in the marine environment and for the measurement of their impacts and risks, for their possible future integration into EU pollution monitoring and assessment systems, in particular under the Water Framework Directive, the Marine Strategy Framework Directive, the EU zero pollution action plan and for the implementation of the EU biodiversity strategy for 2030.

The projects funded under this topic will:

• build links with the European Mission ‘Restore our ocean and waters by 2030’, in particular: HORIZON-MISS-OCEAN-2021-03-01: Mediterranean sea basin lighthouse: actions to prevent, minimise and remediate litter and plastic pollution, HORIZON-MISS-OCEAN-2021-03-02: Mediterranean sea basin lighthouse: coordination activities and HORIZON-MISS-OCEAN-2022-01-03: Mediterranean sea basin lighthouse: actions to prevent, minimise and remediate chemical pollution;
• build links Mission implementation monitoring system that will be part of the Mission Implementation Support Platform for reporting, monitoring and coordination of all relevant implementation activities;
• build links and support the Mission ocean and water knowledge and information system (Digital Twin Ocean), in particular by contributing to pollution monitoring, forecasting, modelling and knowledge creation and data and sharing;
• Collaboration of the projects with research infrastructures (ERICs) such as ARGO and EMSO and with accredited laboratories is encouraged.