Tracking Plastic Pollution in West Africa with EO

Plastic pollution poses a severe global threat, particulary in West Africa, where coastal communities where coastal communities depend heavily on the ocean for food and livelihoods. Plastics carried by rivers and ocean currents are reshaping fragile ecosystems along the region’s coasts, especially in the Gulf of Guinea.

To address this GDA Marine and the World Bank through it’sWest Africa Coastal Areas (WACA) initiative are collaborating to strengthen resilience against coastal degradation and marine litter.

Within this effort, Planetek Italia and the University of Palermo have used satellite Earth Observation (EO) and hydrodynamic modelling to trace the movement of floating plastics. Their model, TrackMPD v.1, combines Copernicus Marine Service data on ocean currents, wind, and temperature to simulate how plastics disperse and accumulate.

The research revealed key findings:

• Most plastics entering the ocean originate from rivers and land-based sources.

• The Gulf of Guinea is a major accumulation zone, receiving debris from multiple countries and river systems, including those in Liberia, Mauritania, Senegal, and Guinea.

• Backward simulations showed that plastics found on Cape Verde’s shores often originate from Mauritania’s Arguin Basin, emphasising the transboundary nature of marine litter.

You can read more about this Case Study here: Tracing macroplastics in West Africa’s coastal waters

Related Use Case:  Water Pollution and Water Quality Assessment and Monitoring