ACCIÓN

Aproximaciones científicas en la implementación de estrategias marinas: herramientas de gestión.

The main objective of the Marine Strategies Framework Directive is to protect the marine environment. To this end, Member States must develop Marine Strategies (EEMM) that include the initial assessment of the environmental status of national marine waters, the definition of the good environmental status (BEA) of the marine environment based on 11 descriptors, the establishment of environmental targets, the development and implementation of monitoring programmes designed to assess whether the BEA is being achieved, and programmes of measures aimed at achieving the BEA.
In Spain, the competent authority for the development of the EEMM is the Ministry for Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge (MITERD). There is currently a need to improve scientific knowledge on the state of the marine environment at national level, its response and/or adaptation to climate change and to integrate it into decision-making on its management. The ACCIÓN project arises from this need and brings together a consortium of CSIC researchers with complementary experiences in the assessment and prediction of the impact of climate change on marine ecosystems and in the development of tools for response and adaptation to future scenarios. The IDAEA coordinates Eje 6: Pollution in fishery products, directly related to EEMM Descriptor 9.

Funding: Ministerio para la Transición Ecológica y el Reto Demográfico: European Union-NextGenerationEU Agreement between MITERD and CSIC, through PTI OCEANS+

Start Date: 01/01/2023 – End Date: 31/12/2025

Project Leader: Ethel Eljarrat Esebag

Researchers: Maria Vittoria Barbieri , Lara Cioni

Support: Valentina Araya Piqué

Funding: European Project

InChildHealth

Identifying determinants for indoor air quality and their health impact in environments for children: Measures to improve indoor air quality and reduce disease burdens.

3. InChildHealth will integrate health, environmental, technical and social sciences research to identify determinants for Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) and evaluate their impact in environments occupied by school children. We will focus on chemicals, particle concentrations, microorganisms and physical parameters in schools, homes, sports halls and transport. The IAQ of these environments determines the dose received by the children and may directly influence their health and well-being. An environmental epidemiological study and controlled interventions conducted in schools in three European cities will assess the health effects of multipollutant airborne exposures on respiratory infections, allergies, and neurological and cognitional symptoms. In addition, dose-response Will be evaluated with a novel cytotoxicity testing pipeline using in-vitro approaches. The InChildHealth consortium will cover an impressive variety of geographical and cultural diversity, with targeted exposure measurement campaigns and citizen involvement in seven European countries from Northern, Central and Southern Europe and interventions in Australia.

Horizon Europe, ref.: HORIZON-HLTH-2021-ENVHLTH-02-02

Start Date: 01/06/2022 – End Date: 31/05/2026

Researchers: Mar Viana Rodríguez , Ethel Eljarrat Esebag , Barend L. van Drooge , Lara Cioni

Support: Judith Desmet , Maria Antonia Aretaki (Μarianda)

Funding: European Project

BIOFUNPAPER

Development of biodegradable multifunctional coatings for paper and cardboard packaging applications

Thin film polymer coating applications are one of the most common functional applications in the packaging industry. Due to the low weight of these plastic layers, their high surface-to-thickness ratio and the difficulty to separate it from the other layers in multilayer structures, their recyclability is not technically feasible nor economically / environmentaly worthwile. BIOFUNPAPER project aims at developing thin film coatings made of organic recyclable biopolymers for the development of hydrophobic and high barrier paper and cardboard coating, fully biodegradable, free of toxic additives and with lower environmental impact than what is currently available. The materials developed in the project will be fully assessed to ensure the performance as barrier and hydrophobic packaging materials as well as the compostability and biodegradability of the concepts in the environment.
The consortium of the project is composed of a multidisciplinary research team of 4 partners: Bioinicia SL (a biotech company devoted to electro-hydrodynamic processing of materials), the Institute of Agrochemistry and Food Technology (IATA-CSIC), the Institute of Environmental Assessment and Water Research (IDAEA-CSIC), and the University Jaume I (UJI). The project will begin in a very low TRL 2-3 with the development of new materials, and will finish in high TRL 5-6 with the validation of the protoypes at an industrial scale.

Funding: Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (Proyectos de colaboración Público-Privada): CPP2021-008973

Start Date: 01/06/2022 – End Date: 31/12/2025

Project Leader: Ethel Eljarrat Esebag

Researchers: Sandra Callejas Martos , Lara Cioni

Funding: National Project

Exploring the environmental quality and toxicity profiles of soils from major e-waste sites in West Africa

West Africa has been the recipient of used electrical and electronic equipment imported onto the African continent with Nigeria, Republic of Benin and Ghana as the main import hub. Only 25% of the imported equipment is reportedly functional while 75% are either unserviceable or waste and hence, ends up in informal e-waste sites. The informal recycling of e-waste as practiced in West Africa has the potential to release a large quantity of contaminants into the recycling sites and the surrounding environment. Environmental matrices such as soil in the vicinity of the e-waste sites could be contaminated following informal e-waste recycling practices. Many children and adolescents work in these e-waste sites, risking negative impacts on their health. The number of harmful substances that humans could be directly or indirectly exposed to by e-waste is vast. The concentrations of these materials are variable but often are notably high, especially within the actual e-waste sites. Endocrine disruption, neurotoxicity and genotoxicity are among the health threats that can be expected from the diverse materials that are handled and that contaminate soil in such areas. Therefore in this present study, we will explore the environmental quality and toxicity profile of soil from major e-waste sites in West Africa using several endpoints which represent well established methods of routine testing in substance safety assessment. Moreover, we will analyse some families of persistent organic pollutants such as halogenated flame retardants and plasticizers, whose high presence has already been detected in e-waste. The study will contribute to sustaining research into understanding how exposure to mixture of e-waste chemicals trigger and contribute to diseases. The study is timely and novel considering the need to obtain accurate scientific data on the effects of exposure to hazardous chemicals in single and joint form. The outcome of this study will be used to generate an initial environmental health risk assessment report comparing the observed toxicity of soil from major e-waste sites in West Africa in order to inform and focus monitoring plans and risk management strategies.

Programa CSIC de Cooperación Científico para el Desarrollo I-COOP 2022, ref.: COOPB22064

Non-IDAEA personnel:
• Eze, Chukwuebuka, Federal University Oye-Ekiti (Nigeria)

Start Date: 01/01/2022 – End Date: 31/12/2024

Project Leader: Cinta Porte Visa

Researchers: Ethel Eljarrat Esebag , Mahboubeh Hosseinzadeh Soureshjani

Support: Tiantian Wang

Funding: National Project