Amazonia: the new frontier for plastic pollution

Giarrizzo, Tommaso; Andrade, Marcelo C.; Schmid, Kurt; Winemiller, Kirk O.; Ferreira, Mateus; Pegado, Tamyris; Chelazzi, David; Cincinelli, Alessandra; Fearnside, Philip M.

doi:10.1002/fee.2071

Cited by 32 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 11 publications

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“…The diversity of plastic waste classes drifting can be the result of physical, chemical and biological fragmentation of plastic bags, paint chips, snack packaging, bottles, jars, cosmetics and other inorganic sources (Lima et al, 2014;Giarrizzo et al, 2019;Azevedo-Santos et al, 2021;Parker et al, 2021). This variety of plastic waste sources can be considered a predictive factor of the diversity of colors captured in the samples along the Tapajós River.…”

Section: Figurementioning

confidence: 99%

Ichthyoplankton and plastic waste drift in a river in the Amazon Basin, Brazil

Oliveira

Oliveira-Junior²,

Cajado³

et al. 2023

Front. Environ. Sci.

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Egg and larvae drift is a key mechanism for early fish stages to colonize nursery and growth areas and provides insights into ichthyofauna spawning times and spawning locations—crucial information for understanding fish biology. In the Tapajós River, Amazon Basin, no study has investigated the drift of ichthyoplankton along the hydrological phases nor the occurrence and dispersion of plastic waste associated with plankton. Thus, we aimed to present an overview of the spatio-temporal drift of ichthyoplankton and plastic waste in this river. Temporal sampling was carried out along a spatial gradient of approximately 300 km, covering different sectors of the river. Ichthyoplankton and plastic waste were captured through horizontal trawls on the subsurface of the water column for 10 min. Fish larvae belonging to 10 taxonomic orders and with an average size of 4.98 mm ± 3.14 mm were captured. Clupeiformes larvae occurred in all hydrological phases and reproductive peaks for other orders were recorded. Plastic waste was classified into 20 types according to color and shape and an average size of 1.55 mm ± 1.27 mm. Green fragments and blue filaments were the most abundant. We found the highest density of fish eggs and larvae drifting during the drought phase in stretches with greater environmental structure, whereas plastics were more abundant during the receding water phase in more turbulent stretches that have impacts from illegal mining. Simultaneous drift of ichthyoplankton and plastic waste was recorded in all hydrological phases and sampled sectors. This is worrying because, although we did not analyze the ingestion of plastics by fish larvae, plastic waste can enter the nursery areas of the Tapajós River and reduce the function of these areas for fish. Here we discover through the high densities of fish eggs and larvae deriving that the Tapajós River is an important reproduction site for ichthyofauna and that the presence of different landscape configurations prove to be a key factor in the dispersion, retention and development of ichthyoplankton and plastic waste.

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Section: Figurementioning

confidence: 99%

Ichthyoplankton and plastic waste drift in a river in the Amazon Basin, Brazil

Oliveira

Oliveira-Junior²,

Cajado³

et al. 2023

Front. Environ. Sci.

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“…Devido à distância dos centros urbanos, em muitas comunidades rurais, o Poder Público não realiza a coleta regular dos resíduos sólidos, tornando-se uma atividade difícil e cara, forçando os moradores dessas localidades a enterrarem ou queimarem seus resíduos, prática considerada mais danosa para o ambiente, pois, além da poluição do ar, contribui para a dispersão de contaminantes no solo e na água, soltos ou ativados durante a queima (Ferreira et al, 2019). A adoção de práticas ambientalmente corretas na disposição de resíduos sólidos em áreas rurais, em muitos casos, não é atendida tanto pela falta da localidade destinada para o correto descarte dos resíduos, quanto pela falta de orientação e fiscalização por parte dos órgãos gestores (Bernardi et al, 2019).…”

Section: Municípiounclassified

“…A gestão ineficaz desses resíduos vem sendo evidenciada em estudos ambientais desenvolvidos na região como o registro da presença de microplásticos em peixes, devido ao transporte dos resíduos pelas águas pluviais (Pegado et al, 2018;Andrade et al, 2019;Ribeiro-Brasil et al, 2020). Os resíduos de plástico provenientes das atividades antrópicas ao longo das margens ou próximo aos rios que compõem a Bacia Amazônica, coletados durante as cheias dos rios, são transportados diretamente para o oceano, intensificando, assim, o impacto ambiental gerado (Giarrizzo et al, 2019). Dessa maneira, considerando as necessidades impostas pela Política Nacional de Resíduos Sólidos (PNRS) e os impactos socioambientais e econômicos gerados pela gestão deficiente do PNRS, bem como o compromisso de empenho dos gestores municipais no tratamento adequado desses resíduos em seus municípios, esse estudo analisou o desenvolvimento dos Planos Municipais de Saneamento Básico (PMSB) dos municípios mato-grossenses inseridos na sub-bacia do rio Xingu, e se as ações voltadas à gestão de resíduos sólidos estão em conformidade com as recomendações da legislação vigente.…”

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Tratamento de resíduos sólidos: uma análise dos planos de saneamento básico dos municípios mato-grossenses da sub-bacia do rio Xingu

Dias

Rodrigues

Battirola

2022

RSD

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A destinação e tratamento adequados dos resíduos sólidos urbanos é um dos alicerces para a preservação ambiental, sobretudo na região amazônica. Diante disso, esse estudo avaliou por meio de uma análise documental, a gestão de resíduos sólidos nos 35 municípios mato-grossenses pertencentes à sub-bacia do rio Xingu. Foram analisados os Planos Municipais de Saneamento Básico (PMSB) desenvolvidos pelos referidos municípios, avaliando-se os documentos e os serviços voltados à gestão de resíduos sólidos. Observou-se que 68,6% dos municípios são classificados como pequenos e os resultados apontam que 27,0% dos PMSB apresentam falhas em sua elaboração, e que 76,5% dos municípios ainda utilizam lixões para a destinação dos seus resíduos sólidos. Evidenciou-se que todos os municípios possuem deficiências no desenvolvimento de programas voltados à reciclagem e logística reversa. As dificuldades e deficiências enfrentadas por esses municípios deve-se, na maior parte das vezes, à não adesão às políticas de gestão de resíduos pelos gestores e às dificuldades na arrecadação tributária, uma vez que a região ainda se encontra distante das condições para atender as exigências da Política Nacional de Resíduos Sólidos (PNRS). Assim, esses municípios deveriam dedicar-se ao desenvolvimento de ações consorciadas que supririam as deficiências e permitiriam que cumprissem, mais rapidamente, suas obrigações em relação aos PNRS.

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“…It was on the water, however, that the framework was lacking. Amazonian freshwater ecosystems had been suffering escalating impacts not only from deforestation but also from pollution, overharvesting and changes in flow and sediment dynamics (Castello et al, 2013; Giarrizzo et al, 2019; Winemiller et al, 2016). Key protection mechanisms, including protected areas, satellite monitoring and policies and interventions in beef and soy supply chains, focused almost entirely on forests.…”

Section: Missing Freshwater Protectionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A political tsunami hits Amazon conservation

Pelicice

Castello

2021

Aquatic Conservation

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The history of conservation of the Amazon can be viewed as a war involving many battles with interests in agribusiness on one side and in biodiversity conservation and sustainability on the other side. Trends in large‐scale deforestation in the 1970s spurred a series of policies, stakeholder alliances and international and grass‐roots movements, which decades later led to the establishment of protected areas and interventions in soy and beef supply chains of agribusiness. Together, these advances epitomized a conservation framework for the Amazon, which at one point nearly curbed deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon, although it included very few protections for freshwater ecosystems. While those conservation advances were taking place, however, a series of policy changes started to undermine them through expansions in deforestation, river regulation and mining activities. The election of Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro in 2019 then hit the Amazon conservation framework much like a tsunami of policy setbacks and the re‐establishment of the economic policies that sparked the Amazon war in the past. The current trajectory is one of large‐scale degradation of Amazonian ecosystems and biodiversity with consequent impacts on local people. Because freshwater ecosystems are highly sensitive to human activities on water and on land, these growing impacts are particularly large. It is too early to know, but four decades of institutional and policy developments to conserve the Brazilian Amazon may soon be pushed past the point from which they will be able to recover. Four conditions will be pivotal to allowing the Amazon conservation framework to recoup: (a) the end of Bolsonaro’s mandate in 2022 or earlier; (b) remobilization of stakeholders; (c) investments in environmental research, policy and multiple collaborations; and (d) moving conservation beyond terrestrial landscapes to also encompass freshwater ecosystems and their people.

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Amazonia: the new frontier for plastic pollution

Cited by 32 publications

References 11 publications

Ichthyoplankton and plastic waste drift in a river in the Amazon Basin, Brazil

Ichthyoplankton and plastic waste drift in a river in the Amazon Basin, Brazil

Tratamento de resíduos sólidos: uma análise dos planos de saneamento básico dos municípios mato-grossenses da sub-bacia do rio Xingu

A political tsunami hits Amazon conservation

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