Unraveling the Role of Plastic Waste Pollution in the Amvrakikos Wetlands National Park, Greece: The Stakeholders’ Views

Abstract

Plastic waste pollution in marine environments is considered a major environmental problem in coastal areas. Relative environmental problems are also recorded in protected wetlands. The National Park of Amvrakikos Wetlands, one of the largest wetlands of Greece, is studied in order to evaluate the influence of plastic waste in the protected area and its surroundings, according to the stakeholders’ views. The survey applied using the method of census addressing the key stakeholders in the area of interest and the use of a questionnaire; the data analyzed with the Statistical Package SSPS. The main findings reveal that waste management is not considered satisfactory in the broader area. Marine litter, pollution, overfishing, ecosystem degradation, agriculture and livestock activities, as well as the insufficiency of the municipal solid waste management and recycling system are listed as the most important environmental problems of the coastal area. The stakeholders’ participation is regarded as crucial for effective decision making. Therefore, special strategies should be designed involving Information and Communication Technology (ICT) to widely address the local communities and increase their awareness on the problem in order to reduce plastic waste pollution. It should be noted that environmental conditions are closely affiliated with the citizens’ quality of life.

Management of plastic waste: A bibliometric mapping and analysis

“…Several authors highlight the consequences of the presence of microplastics in different environments, such as soil (Crossman et al, 2020; Iqbal et al, 2020; Kumar et al, 2020; Zhou et al, 2020), coral island (Patti et al, 2020), beach (Garcés-Ordóñez et al, 2020), sea (Garofalo et al, 2020; Ory et al, 2020; Petroody et al, 2020), lake (Egessa et al, 2020), river (Amrutha and Warrier, 2020), and wetland (Andrea et al, 2020). However, according to Zhou et al (2020), the research of microplastics in the environment is still in its infancy.…”

Wetlands Management in Northern Greece: An Empirical Survey

“…In practice, however, effective water resources management lies beyond water-based conceptualization. In fact, there are pressures that are significantly enhanced by human activity and end up as major environmental threats, including sedimentation, pollution, climate change, deforestation, landscape changes, and urban growth [6][7][8][9]. Changes in landscape, attributed to deforestation or land use changes and urbanization, do entail direct or indirect impacts on water resources.…”

Prevention and Control of Plastic Waste Pollution in the Polar Region: A Review

“…The plastics industry in the US and UK has implemented "Operation Clean Sweep" to reduce plastic pellet loss to the environment especially during transportation and shipment. However, the measures taken by developed countries on microplastic beads are mostly limited to PCCPs[30][31]. And commercial raw materials microplastics are currently in the testing stages.…”