State Key Laboratory of Marine Pollution (SKLMP), City University of Hong Kong

Overview

This training session will introduce the fundamental concepts and best practices in environmental risk assessment and management of chemical contaminants. It will also provide an overview of the frontier technologies in monitoring and assessment of marine pollution. Special focus will be placed on new pollutants and the risks they pose to the marine ecosystem and public health. We will also introduce the research progress of some global-scale studies.

Through this training session, participants will acquire the concepts and principles of environmental risk assessment, risk management, and communication as applied in practice. They will also understand the basic risk assessment tools (i.e., prospective, retrospective, and tiered approaches) for environmental risk management. By learning from the latest research, participants will learn about advanced methods for monitoring emerging chemicals of concern and their current status in coastal environments around the world. This training session will also enable participants to appreciate and employ modern approaches in pollution assessment and management in environmental policy formulation and decision-making.

Programme

Overview

Currently, more than 100,000 chemical substances are used in our daily lives and industries. Many of these chemicals eventually end up in estuaries and oceans through various pathways such as rivers, surface runoff, and partially treated wastewater from treatment plants, ultimately causing potential hazards to marine organisms. Unfortunately, there is a lack of information regarding the occurrence and environmental risks of various contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) in global estuaries, particularly in Africa, South America, Southeast Asia, and Oceania coastal areas.

To address this issue, the Global Estuaries Monitoring (GEM) Programme has been launched under the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development. Its visions are to develop a global monitoring network, reveal the pollution status, and co-create solutions with the global partners for cleaner and safer estuaries.

Expected outcomes and outputs

The GEM Workshop will serve as an affiliated activity of the GEM Programme. This workshop will provide a platform for participants to bring together action partners, to deliver the latest research progress and achievements of the GEM Programme during 2021 – 2024, to co-create potential collaborative projects and action plans for the next phase of GEM, and to develop innovative solutions for combating estuary and marine pollution problems, with an aim to achieve UN Ocean Decade’s ultimate goal of a cleaner ocean by 2030.

Program