Marine Trash Monitoring Programme on Beaches – 2020

reducing marine pollution by macro- and micro-waste is one of the major environmental challenges facing society today. According to the draft North East Atlantic Strategy 2020-2030 (NEAE), the OSPAR Convention has the strategic objective of significantly reducing marine litter to levels that do not cause adverse impacts. This level, called “Good Environmental Status” (GES)/Good Environmental Status (BEA), is also the objective set by the European Union (EU) in the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD,2008/56/EC). The Marine Trash Monitoring Program on beaches in mainland Portugal in 2020 included the 15 beaches already monitored in 2019. As in other activities, this programme has also been impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic. Despite the restrictions, it was possible to carry out on most beaches at least 3 campaigns with a total of 46 campaigns. In the Autonomous Region of the Azores, the monitoring programme on the 6 beaches was also continued.