Involved Member: Prof. Kenneth Mei Yee LEUNG

Many anthropogenic chemicals will be eventually released into the estuaries, which connect the land and ocean. However, little is known about their environmental contamination and ecological risks, particularly in developing and underdeveloped countries that are beyond the reach of current research efforts. “Global Estuaries Monitoring (GEM)” Programme (www.globalestuaries.org) is an endorsed “Ocean Decade Action Programme” under the "Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021-2030)” initiative of the United Nations. It aims to collate the joint efforts of global scientists to collect environmental samples for analysis using the same method, prioritize contaminants of emerging concerns for management, and eventually develop practical solutions to combat the pollution problems for creating cleaner estuaries. Since it starts, GEM has been receiving sounding support from over 80 collaborators from different regions. The consortium currently represents 116 estuaries from 46 countries located in all six major continents.

In the first stage, GEM focuses on pharmaceuticals contamination in estuaries and develop standardized sampling and analytical protocols. A standard method has been developed to simultaneously analyse 45 common pharmaceuticals in a single sample including antibiotics, antidepressants, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, etc. We will launch the global sampling campaign in June 2023.

Reference:

Wilkinson, J.L., Boxall, A.B.A., Kolpin, D.W., Leung, K.M.Y., Lai, R.W.S., Galbán-Malagón, C. et al. (2022). Pharmaceutical Pollution of the World’s Rivers. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 119(8), e2113947119. (impact factor 10.700)