NORCE highlights circular solutions at COP17

Hans Kleivdal and Gunhild Bødtker from NORCE took part in several events last weekend during COP17 in Yerevan, Armenia. The biodiversity summit runs from 19 to 30 October and follows up on the global biodiversity agreement adopted in 2022.

From fish sludge to new resources

The event on circular aquaculture explored how nutrients from aquaculture can be recovered and reused. It was organised by NORCE and Ragn-Sells in collaboration with the Global Partnership on Nutrient Management, with contributions from the UN Environment Programme, research organisations and Nordic stakeholders.

If aquaculture is to help increase food production without putting greater pressure on nature, more nutrients must be recovered. Discharges of phosphorus and nitrogen can lead to eutrophication, oxygen depletion and biodiversity loss.

Hans Kleivdal presented the EU-funded AQUAPHOENIX project. The project addresses the entire circular value chain for nutrients from fish farming. This includes sludge collection, treatment, biogas production through anaerobic digestion (decomposition without oxygen), nutrient recovery and microalgae production. The project also addresses the economic, regulatory and policy conditions that influence whether these solutions are put into practice.

Kleivdal explained that nutrients are essential to all food production but become a problem when they are lost to the environment. In AQUAPHOENIX, researchers and industry partners are working to collect, recover and reuse these resources so that increased food production does not automatically place a greater burden on nature. He stressed that the challenge is not solely technological:

– Technology alone will not solve the problem. For circular solutions to be adopted at scale, technology, regulation, markets and investment must develop in the same direction. This applies whether we are talking about resources from aquaculture or circular plastics value chains.

Predictability for investors

The same question was central to a discussion on solutions to plastic pollution, in which Kleivdal took part alongside representatives from industry, research and policymaking. His message was that new technologies need more than technical development: regulation, access to capital and demand must make it possible to establish new value chains. This applies across the fields discussed at the summit: meeting the targets of the biodiversity agreement requires solutions not only to be developed, but also to be used.

Biodegradable plastics do not necessarily biodegrade in nature

Gunhild Bødtker, senior researcher and head of the North Atlantic Microplastic Centre at NORCE, participated in the organisation of the event on microplastics and biodiversity, gave a presentation and took part in a panel discussion. She highlighted that biodegradable plastics can be part of the solution to plastic pollution, but that these materials must be used in targeted applications rather than as a general replacement for conventional plastics.

– Whether plastics biodegrade, and how quickly, depends not only on the material but also on the conditions in the environment where they end up. Some types of plastic require high temperatures to biodegrade, for example, and may therefore persist in nature. As a general rule, biodegradable plastics should also be collected and managed as waste, Bødtker explained.

Reducing consumption, reusing products and recycling materials are necessary, but do not prevent all releases of microplastics into the environment. According to Bødtker, current knowledge indicates that microplastics from biodegradable plastics can have environmental impacts similar to those of conventional microplastics. Any potential environmental benefit therefore lies in a shorter residence time in nature, but this depends on the plastic actually biodegrading under the conditions in question.

Calling for more knowledge of long-term impacts

Bødtker noted that knowledge of environmental impacts is not keeping pace with the development, production and use of biodegradable plastics. Products made from a single type of polymer and without toxic additives are a positive step, but both short- and long-term impacts still need to be investigated.

One question is how plastics affect microorganisms when they become a habitat and a source of carbon and energy. Bødtker therefore called for more research into how these materials affect microbial communities and their activity. This knowledge is needed to assess which applications can actually deliver an environmental benefit.

Will we meet the biodiversity targets?

With only four years left to meet the 2030 targets, a central question at COP17 is how the world can move from agreed targets to practical implementation and faster action.

– Issues relating to sustainable food production, circular resource use, nutrients, plastics and microplastics, regulation and the scaling up of new solutions connect NORCE’s research directly to the international biodiversity agenda, says Kleivdal. The AQUAPHOENIX project, for example, contributes to three of the targets: Target 7 (reducing pollution), Target 10 (more sustainable aquaculture) and Target 18 (incentives that protect biodiversity).

Two seemingly different issues — nutrients from aquaculture and plastics and microplastics — largely point to the same challenge: we need more than additional knowledge and better technology. We must become much better at getting effective solutions adopted and scaled up.