Addressing challenges of Plastic Pollution in the Nile Basin: Advancing Monitoring and Citizen Science
On February 10th to 13th, 2025 a hands-on training workshop on macroplastic pollution monitoring was held in Kisumu, Kenya, bringing together regional technical working group members on water quality from the nine Nile Basin countries, regional partners from Lake Victoria Basin Commission (LVBC), Nile Basin Discourse (NBD) and experts from the NBI Subsidiary Action Programs (ENTRO and NELSAP-CU). The workshop was officially opened Ms. Gladys Wekesa Nile technical advisory committee Member form Kenya.
The training introduced macroplastic monitoring methods in both theoretical and practical settings, emphasizing their integration into existing water quality and hydrometry monitoring programs. The workshop focused on two widely used macroplastic monitoring methods:
- Visual Counting: Observers count and classify floating macroplastics (e.g., bottles, bags) from a fixed point, such as a bridge, within a set time interval (e.g., 10 minutes).
- Bank Surveys: Observers walked along predefined transects on riverbanks or lake shorelines, recording the number, type, and size of macroplastics within a designated area.
Plastic pollution in both marine and freshwater environments is now widely acknowledged as a major global environmental challenge. However, systematic monitoring data, particularly for rivers and lakes, remains scarce on a global scale. The World Water Quality Alliance (WWQA) workstream on plastic pollution has been working towards increasing harmonized data collection, though more comprehensive and consistent data is still needed.
Such data is essential for identifying pollution hotspots, tracking trends over time, and informing targeted. strategies for reducing plastic pollution in river basins.
This initiative supports the international initiatives of the Nile Basin Initiative and its German partners to improve the current state of knowledge on plastic pollution in the Nile Basin. The activity is supported by Deutsche Gesellschaft fΓΌr Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection (BMUV).
The final day of the workshop introduced SDG Indicator 6.3.2 (ambient water quality) and the World Water Quality Alliance (WWQA) βs work on citizen science, with presentations by UNEP GEMS/Water and Earth watch. The session covered the methodology and global results of SDG Indicator 6.3.2, emphasizing the global water quality data gap and how UNEP and WWQA partners are addressing it. The citizen science segment highlighted seven active projects in Africa, including: Mara Transboundary Monitoring in Tanzania and Lake Hawassa Monitoring in Ethiopia.
This project and workshop highlight the importance of collaborative efforts in tackling plastic pollution and improving water quality monitoring. By empowering experts and citizen scientists alike, the initiative is taking vital steps toward achieving SDG 6 targets in freshwater environments across the Nile Basin. Some important links:
Project: https://www.giz.de/en/worldwide/138385.html
NBI Plastics: https://nilebasin.org/en/action-area/plastic-pollution
UNEP Guidelines for Plastic Monitoring in Freshwater and Lakes: https://www.unep.org/resources/report/monitoring-plastics-rivers-and-lakes-guidelines-harmonization-methodologies
Contributions by : Christian Schmidt (UFZ), Stuart Warner (UNEP-GEMS/Water), Tim van Emmerik (WUR), Steven Loiselle (Earthwatch -Freshwaterwatch), Mary Namukose (GIZ) and Jean Namugize (Water Quality Expert Nile Basin Initiative)