Oil pollution is a chronic and widespread problem in the world’s ocean, yet most of it goes unseen. Public attention tends to focus on catastrophic spills, while small, frequent discharges from ships and offshore oil infrastructure, most of them illegal under the MARPOL Convention, pass with little notice or accountability.
In this Science Talk, Dr. Karl Wurster, environmental governance scholar and digital systems specialist, will present new findings from SkyTruth’s global assessment of marine oil pollution. Drawing on three years of radar satellite imagery analyzed with machine learning and matched against vessel-tracking data, he will examine where oil slicks concentrate, which vessels and offshore facilities are responsible, and how pollution reaches marine protected areas and other sensitive habitats. He will also discuss the limits of what satellites can currently see, including large stretches of the high seas with little or no coverage and missing ownership data for many polluting vessels, and why closing these gaps is essential for effective ocean governance, the expansion of marine protected areas into the high seas, and holding polluters accountable.
You may watch the talk on the UNU-INWEH YouTube channel (no registration required).
Speaker
Environmental Governance Scholar and Digital Systems Specialist,
United Nations University, Institute for Water, Environment and Health (UNU-INWEH)
