Social-Ecological Systems and Marine Plastic Pollution

Dear Colleagues,

The amount of plastic waste present in global social–ecological systems (SESs) cannot be neglected. The annual flow of plastics entering the global ocean in 2010 was estimated to be 4.8–12.7 MT/year (Jambeck et al., 2015). It is expected that the total amount of plastic waste accumulated in the global ocean will double from 2010 to 2025 (Cordier and Uehara, 2019; Jambeck et al., 2015). This growing trend is likely to continue beyond 2025 and at least up to 2040 if effective measures are not implemented (Lau et al., 2020).

Living in the “plasticene” (Ten Brink et al., 2017), solutions to marine plastic pollution should be analyzed and designed considering they are part of the SES; ignoring this might lead to new problems. While making an immediate and significant investment terminating and eradicating marine plastic waste could slow the economy (Cordier and Uehara, 2019), the procrastination of action could harm both society and the environment to an unforeseeable and irreversible degree (Uehara, 2020; UNEP, 2014; Villarrubia-Gómez et al., 2017). A solution needs to consider how it impacts the SES as marine plastic pollution and its treatment are part of the SES.

In this Special Issue, we invite studies focusing on non-technological solutions rather than technological innovations (Ellen MacArthur Foundation et al., 2016). Technological solutions alone are not sufficient to solve this issue (Cordier and Uehara, 2019). Furthermore, a solution must be feasible and effective in the context of SES. What kinds of non-technological solutions would be feasible and able to effectively reduce marine plastic pollution and contribute to a desirable SES? This is the research question addressed in this Special Issue, which will accept original and review research that addresses the following topics (non-exhaustive list):

• Social–ecological system modeling and simulation analysis;
• Governance (e.g., better regulation and control);
• Nudges (e.g., governmental information campaigns, information nudges, and default rules (Sunstein et al., 2019));
• Command and control policies (e.g., banning single-use plastic products and forbidding planned obsolescence of products);
• Incentive mechanisms (e.g., a return and deposit system);
• Environmental education and education for sustainable development to encourage pro-environmental behavior;
• Holistic assessment of non-technological solutions with respect to their impacts on the SES;
• COVID-19 and marine plastic pollution.

This Special Issue is open to all scientific fields, such as natural sciences, engineering and technology, medical and health sciences, social sciences, and humanities, as long as they fit the scope described above.

Prof. Dr. Takuro Uehara
Dr. Mateo Cordier
Guest Editors

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• Plastic pollution
• Modeling
• Scenario analysis
• Corruption and lobbying
• social–ecological system
• governance
• education for sustainable development
• nudge