Plastic pollution is a global phenomenon with significant impacts on the marine and coastal environment. Since plastic is resistant to degradation, it is expected to persist in the environment in some form over geological timescales, meaning that damages accrue over very long periods of time. However, the physical form of marine plastic changes over time, so that the type of damage from any given export of plastic is not temporally constant and the detailed processes behind the spatial distribution and fate of macro and micro plastic in the marine environment is poorly understood. The transboundary nature of marine plastic pollution reduces the incentive for any single country to reduce its emissions of plastic waste into the marine environment or to clean up plastic debris once it has entered the oceans. The physical properties and uncertainties associated with marine plastic, combined with the transboundary nature of the problem and a lack of international markets for control, has led to a lack of effective global actions to address the challenge of marine plastic despite increasing worldwide recognition of the problem. The fundamental aim of this international research project is to bring new insights to bear on the economic damages associated with marine plastic, the costs of reducing this pollution problem, and the net benefits of international coordination over reductions in marine plastic. The project is organized around four research questions, focused on a case study area of the North Atlantic: (1) What is the probable spatial distribution and movement of marine plastic and what are the associated ecological impacts? (2) What are the economic damage costs associated with marine plastic, for a range of North Atlantic countries? (3) What are the costs of reducing both the stock and the flows of plastic into and within the marine environment of the North Atlantic? (4) What are the economic benefits of different levels of international cooperation in emissions reductions, and what does this imply about incentives to cooperate?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Plastic pollution is a global phenomenon with significant impacts on the marine and coastal environment. Since plastic is resistant to degradation, it is expected to persist in the environment in some form over geological timescales, meaning that damages accrue over very long periods of time. However, the physical form of marine plastic changes over time, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"template":"","meta":{"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"tags":[21],"principal-investigator":[385],"funding-agency":[430],"class_list":["post-1804","research-projects","type-research-projects","status-publish","hentry","tag-past","principal-investigator-robert-j-johnston","funding-agency-economic-and-social-research-council-uk"],"yoast_head":"\n