Experts from the University of Coimbra head to Japan to combat marine litter using drones and Artificial Intelligence

Abridged version in English: Diana Taborda

Two experts from the Faculty of Sciences and Technology of the University of Coimbra (FCTUC) will participate on the 11th and 12th September in a meeting in Tokyo, hosted by the Ministry of the Environment of Japan (MOEJ), the 2nd meeting gathering international experts to discuss international guidelines for monitoring marine litter on the Japanese shores.

The UC researchers will help combat the environmental issue with drones and Artificial Intelligence (AI) developed in the project UAS4Litter.

This meeting brings together the Smart Marine Litter Remote Sensing Technology (SmartMLRST) group in order to achieve the goals set at the G20 summit, held in 2019 under the umbrella of the "Osaka Blue Ocean Vision", the G20 Implementation Framework for Actions on Marine Plastic Litter, which aims to reduce pollution caused by ocean debris, including plastics, to zero by 2050.

"The purpose of the SmartMLRST group is to define detailed guidelines that will be implemented in Japan for the monitoring of marine litter, using remote sensing technologies, with special focus on drones, allowing the standardisation of the methods employed in monitoring, and providing comparable data on the current distribution, quantification and composition of litter, including plastics in the marine environment, which are essential for the implementation of mitigation measures," explains Gil Gonçalves, FCTUC professor and researcher at the Institute for Systems Engineering and Computers at Coimbra (INESC-Coimbra).

Umberto Andriolo, also a researcher at INESC-Coimbra and a member of SmartMLRST, adds, "Our role will involve sharing and transferring the knowledge acquired as part of the UAS4Litter project, in order to establish guidelines for monitoring marine litter on the shores of the Japanese coast using drones and AI. UAS4Litter was an innovative research project that developed, implemented and tested a framework based on low-cost drones for the detection, identification and mapping of marine litter on beach-dune systems."

The meeting will also include an analysis of each available technology, namely satellite, aeroplane, balloon, webcams and smartphones, with particular focus on drone technology, as it is one of the most promising tools for monitoring marine litter items larger than 2.5 cm on beaches and in coastal areas.

In line with this agreement with the MOEJ, the process developed as part of the UAS4Litter project was also presented to the Public Prosecutor's Office of the State of São Paulo (MPSP), Brazil, which intends to implement it to monitor marine litter in the coastal areas of the region of Guarajá.