Impact of the citizen science project COLLECT on ocean literacy and well-being within a north/west African and south-east Asian context.

Plastic pollution is both a societal and environmental problem and citizen science has shown to be a useful tool to engage both the public and professionals in addressing it. However, knowledge on the educational and behavioral impacts of citizen science projects focusing on marine litter remains limited. Our preregistered study investigates the impact of the citizen science project Citizen Observation of Local Litter in coastal ECosysTems (COLLECT) on the participants' ocean literacy, pro-environmental intentions and attitudes, well-being, and nature connectedness, using a pretest-posttest design. A total of 410 secondary school students from seven countries, in Africa (Benin, Cabo Verde, Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, Morocco, Nigeria) and Asia (Malaysia) were trained to sample plastics on sandy beaches and to analyze their collection in the classroom. Non-parametric statistical tests (n = 239 matched participants) demonstrate that the COLLECT project positively impacted ocean literacy (i.e., awareness and knowledge of marine litter, self-reported litter-reducing behaviors, attitudes towards beach litter removal). The COLLECT project also led to higher pro-environmental behavioral intentions for students in Benin and Ghana (implying a positive spillover effect) and higher well-being and nature connectedness for students in Benin. Results are interpreted in consideration of a high baseline in awareness and attitudes towards marine litter, a low internal consistency of pro-environmental attitudes, the cultural context of the participating countries, and the unique settings of the project's implementation. Our study highlights the benefits and challenges of understanding how citizen science impacts the perceptions and behaviors towards marine litter in youth from the respective regions.

Temporal trends of marine litter in a tropical recreational beach: A case study of Mkomani beach, Kenya.

Six marine litter standing stock surveys were carried out to determine the influence of monsoon on the temporal abundance and composition of macro-litter in Mkomani beach, Mombasa Kenya. Foam (0.073 items m-2) and plastic (0.042 items m-2) fragments had the highest densities. The brand audit indicated that 66.9% of branded marine litter was of Kenyan origin. Food product packaging contributed 78.4% of the branded litter with PET bottles being the most abundant type of packaging (48.2%). Foreign products contributed 35.6% of branded marine litter during South East Monsoon (SEM) whereas only 11.7% during North-East Monsoon (NEM). Worth noting, PET packaging dominated during SEM (53.6%) compared to NEM (20.2%). Mkomani beach could be considered "extremely dirty" with a Clean-Coast Index greater than 20. The study concludes that monsoons influences litter diversity, richness and evenness.

The impacts of COVID-19 pandemic on marine litter pollution along the Kenyan Coast: A synthesis after 100 days following the first reported case in Kenya.

The contribution of COVID-19 pandemic to marine litter pollution was studied in Mombasa, Kilifi, and Kwale counties of Kenya, in June 2020 (100 days following the first confirmed case in Kenya). Standing stock surveys were conducted in 14 streets and 21 beaches while 157 transects were surveyed for floating litter. COVID-19 related items contributed up to 16.5% of the total litter encountered along the streets. The urban beaches (Mkomani and Nyali) had the highest quantities of COVID-19 related items (55.1% and 2.6% respectively) attributable to the ability to purchase single-use products and lifestyle. Most of the recreational beaches had no COVID-19 related products which could be attributed to the presidential directive on beach closure as a COVID-19 contingency measure. No COVID-19 related litter was found in the floating litter. Generally, beach closure and cessation of movement reduced the amount of litter that leaked to the marine environment.

Baseline meso-litter pollution in selected coastal beaches of Kenya: Where do we concentrate our intervention efforts?

A total of 23 beaches were surveyed between July and September 2019. Meso-litter was collected by sieving sediment collected from 0.25 m2 quadrats laid along perpendicular transects through 5 mm mesh size sieves. The results showed that plastics were the most abundant litter encountered on all the beaches. Beaches close to urban areas had a higher number of litter categories (i.e. plastic, metal, foam, and paper) compared to the remote beaches that only had plastics. In conclusion, the lack of statistically significant evidence of the influence of proximity to urban centers, the predominant activity in the beaches, and exposure to wave action on the amount of meso-litter attest to the fact that marine litter pollution is a geographical spread problem that will require national, regional, and global action and approach to address. The intervention efforts (including beach clean-ups) should preferably target beaches that have back vegetation compared to those with seawalls.