CONICET scientist was awarded by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation

Martín Blettler, CONICET researcher at the Instituto Nacional de Limnología (INALI, CONICET-UNL), analyses plastic contamination in Paraná river. For his studies, he has recently received the Georg Forster Research Fellowship for experienced researchers given by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, in Germany.

The Foundation aims at promoting international scientific cooperation by financing outstanding research work and awarding lifetime achievements on research topics relevant for the scientific community.

The programme is funded by the ‘German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development.’ The selected project focuses on the understanding of the mechanisms of transport, retention and remobilization of plastics in river currents and their alluvial plains.

“This study will provide information, with a physical basis, about the main mechanisms that govern the dynamics of this pollutant. Besides, there are two innovative elements: the implementation and testing of new measurement methodologies, and the performance of mesocosm experiments, which allow us to examine part of the natural environment isolated under controlled or semi-controlled conditions,” affirms Bletter.

The project will be run for six months, from October 2021, in labs, experimental stations and rivers in Germany and Italy. The researcher hopes that the resulting knowledge of this project can be applied at the local level.

“The methodologies used and the results will be extrapolated to our rivers (Paraná and its main tributaries), providing new knowledge and scientific tools to propose and implement measures to control and reduce plastic pollutants in our rivers,” indicates Bletter.