A Collaboration with INTI/CRBAS on Plastic Pollution in High-Mountain Ecosystems

One of the goals behind MappA was always to build something reusable — standardized protocols that other researchers and institutions could adopt, adapt, and build upon. It’s been encouraging to see that happening.

Argentina’s National Institute of Industrial Technology (INTI), through its Basel Convention Regional Centre for South America (CRBAS), is using MappA’s field and laboratory protocols as part of a binational project on plastic pollution in high-mountain and remote ecosystems, developed in collaboration with Chile and funded by the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions Secretariat (BRS/UNEP). The project is led by Alberto Santos Capra (Director, CRBAS) and coordinated with Candela Nassi (National Director of Environmental Evaluation and Control) and Nuria Ojeda (Undersecretary of Environment, Mendoza). The INTI Plastics team involved includes Mariana Papa, Cristina Inocenti, Gabriela Muniza, and Cecilia Lorenzo, alongside Fabio Luna (INTI Construction and High Mountain Committee). Sampling has taken place across multiple Andean sites, with further campaigns planned.

The protocols being used — including our procedure for microplastics sampling in lotic environments — are openly available through the MappA Zenodo community. We are currently refining them based on field experience accumulated across Argentina’s diverse aquatic ecosystems, so updated versions will follow.

Seeing MappA’s methodology applied in high-altitude environments, far beyond the lakes and rivers where it was originally developed, is both a validation and a learning opportunity. We look forward to incorporating feedback from these campaigns into future protocol versions.

Read more about the field campaign in Mendoza (Spanish).