It all starts with a pledge and ends with honouring that promise. Sounds simple, right? But that’s exactly where the gap lies. National Geographic’s ‘Sea to Source: Ganges’ expedition is looking to bridge this gap and find inclusive solutions to the plastic waste crisis, as part of its ‘Planet or ?’ initiative. The plan is to assess the scale of the problem aggravated by discarded plastic into the Ganges. In partnership with the Wildlife Institute of India, the University of Dhaka and WildTeam, it hopes to gather experts to tackle the quandary that concerns all living beings.
Considering about nine million tonnes of plastic flows through our oceans annually, suffocating marine life before entering the human food chain, ‘Planet or Plastic?’ reiterates the imminent environmental doom that will rip through the planet if not addressed in time. If that’s not enough, it may help to know that 90 per cent of plastic reaching our oceans comes from only 10 rivers, of which eight are in Asia, with the Ganges being one of them. There could be more plastic than fish (by weight) in the ocean by 2050, according to New Plastics Economy.
The ‘Sea to Source: Ganges’ expedition is the first of many international river expeditions that have been planned to reduce single-use plastic reaching the ocean. The team visited the Ganges in spring and now hopes to head back after the monsoon to seize data basis seasonal vacillations. The blueprint of the campaign covers land, water and people. As the land segment collects data on the use of plastic within communities, it concentrates on waste collection and management.
The water team studies plastic pollution in the air, water, sediment and species in and around the river, while the socioeconomic team surveys local communities along the expedition route to understand awareness levels and perceptions of plastic pollution. It also looks at household plastic waste management and devises solutions for addressing this issue, according to National Geographic leads.
The team, comprising 15 scientists, will work with local stakeholders to combine scientific knowledge and storytelling to drive home the point. “We are committed to better understanding and documenting how plastic waste travels from source to sea and to filling critical knowledge gaps around plastic flow, load and composition. There will be scientific documentation of plastic waste in a watershed so that we can develop holistic and inclusive solutions,” says Heather Koldewey, National Geographic Fellow and Scientific Co-Lead.
They are also looking at how much plastic enters rivers from land, how much gets blown or washed away from mismanaged waste on land, and how plastic concentrations vary along an entire river. But the responsibility of lessening the plastic footprint, especially single-use plastics precedes it all. “Reconnecting with nature is also an important way to understand why we need to protect it.
We have been so fortunate to experience the rich biodiversity that lives in the Ganga, from waterbirds to river dolphins, and caring for this important river system and its wildlife requires changes in how we use and dispose of plastic,” says Jenna Jambeck, National Geographic Fellow and Scientific Co-Lead, who is working with Koldewey to identify solutions through socioeconomic research, community focus group discussions, and district-level workshops with different stakeholders.
“On completion of our expeditions, we will work with our partners, collaborators and key government agencies to identify options for effective and inclusive solutions, with a road map for their implementation,” she says. And that will just be a starting point.