17.09.2018 | On 20 September at 5:00 p.m., Swedish environmental law expert Prof. Dr. Lena Gipperth will give a lecture on the protection of coasts and oceans from chemical pollution. Nowadays an enormous number of industrially produced chemical substances exist, some of which make headlines - mostly when they are suspected of being harmful to humans or animals. New chemicals are regularly introduced to the market without sufficient control over where they are used or eventually land, says BEST lecturer Lena Gipperth of the University of Gothenburg. The protection of the oceans from pollution with chemicals is still insufficiently anchored in international legislation and limited to a few hazardous substances, the researcher says.
Although the use of chemicals is now more strongly regulated by law and covers various stages of the value chain, the legislation still lags far behind the rapid development of new chemicals, says Gipperth. In addition, the environmental risks of chemicals are not assessed and dealt with in combination with other chemical substances, but on an individual basis.
Using the example of a study on chemical flows into the sea in western Sweden and their current legal control, the scientist shows how necessary legal reforms are for the development of a more sustainable chemicals management.
Following the lecture, Lena Gipperth will discuss with Dr. Berit Brockmeyer from the Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency (BSH), among others, whose tasks also include monitoring pollutants in water and sediments from the North Sea and Baltic Sea.
About Lena Gipperth:
Lena Gipperth is a Professor in Environmental Law at the School of Business, Economics and Law, University of Gothenburg. Her research focuses on the legal implementation of environmental objectives, in particular relating to water and marine resources. She has been involved in several trans- and multidisciplinary research programmes and is now a part of the FRAM Centre for Future Chemical Risk Assessment and Management Strategies (https://fram.gu.se). Since 2015 she is the Director of the cross-faculty Centre for Sea and Society, an entrance to all marine and maritime activities at the University of Gothenburg.
About the "Bremen Earth and Social Science Talks":
The Bremen Earth and Social Science Talks (BEST) aim to attract engaging and influential speakers from the world of academia to Bremen to share their thoughts and ideas. The purpose of the series is to provoke discussion and debate about a range of subjects at the intersections between natural and social sciences, with a focus on pressing societal grand challenges such as sustainability, climate change, resource exploitation, and governance.
Title: "Protecting the coast and the ocean from chemical pollution".
by Dr. Lena Gipperth, Professor at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden
Date: Thursday, 20. September 2018
Time: 17:00 - 18:30 Uhr
Location: Leibniz Centre for Marine Tropical Research (ZMT), Seminar Room, Fahrenheitstr. 6, 28359 Bremen, Germany
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