Micro2018, International conference on the prolem of micro-plastics

Lanzarote will become a table for an international debate and analysis on the problematic of the fate and impact of micro-plastics, in the second edition of the International Conference ‘Micro 2018’ that will take place from November 19 to 23 with the participation of more than 600 scientists and researchers who will meet at this symposium, whose official language will be English.

Today, in November 2018, many unknowns remain, but public opinion already understands the massive presence of plastic on the planet and the opportunity to avoid the degradation of affected ecosystems. As with climate change, the alarming situation is closely linked to human activity. The responsibility of reducing the harmful impact to the public health of certain additives, associated with the accumulated knowledge about the other types of chemical and mechanical impact, makes the participants of MICRO 2018 join the challenge of reducing the plastic footprint to improve the quality of life in different ecosystems, including human health.

At the Conference, co-organized by the Cabildo of Lanzarote in the framework of the 25th Anniversary of the title of Biosphere Reserve (Unesco, 1993) and the network of researchers Marine Sciences For Society, some 460 communications will be shared by more than 1,500 researchers from all the planet that will allow to advance in a detailed and collaborative way about the current state of knowledge, identify responsibilities and build solutions to face the serious global problem represented by the presence of microplastics in all corners of the world. A total of 275 posters illustrating these studies and the problems of microplastics will also be exhibited.

The congress includes a complete program of lectures, discussion and analysis tables that will take place during the week that follows in Arrecife, in the building of the Cabildo de Lanzarote and the Hotel ‘Arrecife, Gran Hotel’. The full program of the conference can be downloaded from the conference website.

OPEN PAPER TO THE PUBLIC

Within this program, the Cabildo de Lanzarote and Marine Sciences For Society offer a presentation to the population of the island of free access, on Thursday, November 22, at 7:00 p.m., in the Assembly Hall of the Cabildo de Lanzarote , with the title ‘Marine Garbage. Are there solutions for this global problem?’. It Will be in charge by the professor of marine biology at the University of Plymouth in the United Kingdom and specialized in the ecology of shallow waters, Richard Thompson, and will be in English , the official language of this symposium.