Impacts and Threats of Marine Litter in African Seas

Abstract

SummaryWith a focus on plastic pollution, this chapter discusses the impacts of marine litter on the natural environment, the people and the economies of Africa. The impacts of marine litter will depend on various factors such as distribution, exposure time, size and type of organism. This chapter focusses on different impacts of marine litter at various scales, from ocean to coast, as well as more localised scales. The emphasis is on the coastal countries of the African continent, where information from Africa is lacking, and relevant data from other regions is used to infer possible impacts. Throughout this chapter, the environmental, social, economic and human impacts are discussed separately, although it should be remembered that these topics are intimately interlinked.

Impact of the citizen science project COLLECT on ocean literacy and well-being within a north/west African and south-east Asian context

“…Furthermore, marine litter is shown to directly affect the tourism industry, particularly in the African Small Island Developing States (SIDS; including Cabo Verde). SIDS tourism 1 https://pogo-ocean.org 2 litterbase.awi.de depends on "beautiful, " clean beaches, but are the most disproportionately affected by marine litter, and therefore necessitate continuous cleaning of the beaches at a high economic cost (Arabi et al, 2023). In 2015, the economic cost of damage from marine litter to fisheries, aquaculture, marine transport, shipbuilding and tourism in the APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) region, including Malaysia, was estimated at 11.2 billon USD (Mcllgorm et al, 2020).…”

“…According to a review by Arabi et al (2023) , there is limited information regarding the social, economic, and health impacts of marine litter in the participating countries, with most of the literature focusing on South Africa. Arabi et al (2023) demonstrate that the presence of marine litter reduces the aesthetic value of popular tourist beaches in Benin and Côte d’Ivoire, and that unclean beaches were one of the main concerns of coastal residents in Ghana ( Van Dyck et al, 2016 ). In Nigeria, perceived major impacts of marine litter also include aesthetic impairment, as well as health issues and economic downscale ( Nubi et al, 2019 ).…”

“…In 2015, the economic cost of damage from marine litter to fisheries, aquaculture, marine transport, shipbuilding and tourism in the APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) region, including Malaysia, was estimated at 11.2 billon USD ( Mcllgorm et al, 2020 ). Finally, the participating countries are also faced with the health risks presented by marine litter through the consumption of seafood containing microplastics, as shown in Malaysia ( Karbalaei et al, 2019 ), and potential injuries due to sharp plastic fragments or discarded fishing nets in the water ( Van Dyck et al, 2016 ; Arabi et al, 2023 ).…”

The first assessment of marine litter on Somalian coast: The case of Liido Beach, Mogadishu

“…These include household items, industrial products, as well as lost or discarded fishing gear, recreational equipment, and plastic pieces [ 8 , 11 ]. Marine litter can pose a risk to human health, environmental integrity, social and economic well-being, as well as livelihoods [ 6 , [12] , [13] , [14] , [15] , [16] ]. They have been described as one of the most common pollution of concerns plaguing the world's oceans and waterways [ [17] , [18] , [19] , [20] ].…”