The Citizen Observation of Local Litter in coastal ECosysTems (COLLECT) project (2021-2022) is a citizen science initiative, supported by the Partnership for Observation of the Global Ocean (POGO), which aimed to acquire distribution and abundance data of coastal plastic litter in seven countries: in Africa (Benin, Cabo Verde, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Morocco, Nigeria) and Asia (Malaysia). In this paper, we describe the workflow used to establish and run this project, as well as the methodologies to acquire data. The COLLECT project consisted of training local students (15 - 18 years old) from ten second cycle institutions (“high schools”) on sampling and analyzing macro-, meso- and microplastics in beach sediments, using a quantitative assessment protocol. We further describe in detail the methodologies applied in assessing the impact of participating in the activities from a social sciences perspective. All documents and materials resulting from this project will be open access and available according to the FAIR Principles (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable). The results and outcomes from COLLECT will contribute to expanding knowledge and establishing baseline information on coastal plastic pollution, with citizen science being an enabler of open science, allowing data to be freely available to the public, academics and policymakers. Expected results from the use of the COLLECT protocol globally will further contribute to the identification of hotspots of coastal plastic litter, and bring awareness to local communities on the potential consequences of plastic pollution. The COLLECT project actively contributes with data suitable to survey plastic litter to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs), in particular to SDG 14, on the sustainable use of the ocean.

Surface water pollution poses a major risk to all biotic entities dependent on the water body. This study assessed the surface water quality of commodore channel, Lagos lagoon with respect to its heavy metals pollution level using indexing approach to determine the sources of heavy metal and its associated pollution risk. Samples were collected at a depth of 10-15 cm within a distance of 4 km from the shore line. Metal concentrations were evaluated using Atomic Absorption Spectrometry. The Concentrations of Pb (0.203-2.601 mg/L), Fe (0.253-1.049 mg/L), Cd (0.017-0.133 mg/L), and Co (0.000-0.226 mg/L) exceeded the recommended limits set by the World Health Organization, while Zn concentration (0.007-0.319 mg/L), was within acceptable limits for all locations investigated. Heavy metal pollution index (HPI) of the study area was found to be 3532.1, exceeding the critical pollution index value of 100. Similarly, the Metal Index (MI) of 150.5 of the study area was above threshold limit value of 1, suggesting that the area is seriously polluted with heavy metals. Sample t-test, confirms that there is a significant statistical different (with p value at p<0.05) between samples collected from the industrial areas and non-industrial area. The study revealed the sources of the heavy metals are primarily from anthropogenic source attributed to the untreated industrial discharge, and municipal solid waste disposed in the area. Prompt enforcement of environmental protection laws is needed to prevent continuous pollution of the area.

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