The presence of plastic leaking into the environment is a system failure of monumental proportion that threatens the marine ecosystem and causes physical and chemical contamination at a global scale. It is estimated that 12 million tonnes of plastic enters the oceans each year and this has rapidly become a global concern. The economic damage of this plastic pollution amounts to around USD13 billion per annum due to degraded environments, loss of revenue from tourism, and costs of clean up and repair. This is a particular issue in the Eastern Pacific rim countries of Ecuador and Peru which host seas of great ecological, economic and conservation importance with high levels of endemic species, including fish, reptiles, birds and mammals, found nowhere else on earth. The health of this unique biodiversity is important to one of the world's key fishing areas and a growing tourism industry, supporting a variety of livelihoods and food security for the coastal people, many very poor. The total amount of plastic produced and used in Latin America represents 4% of the plastic produced globally. It has been estimated that 45% of this is inadequately managed, generating around 1 million tonnes of mismanaged plastic waste annually, and predicted to double by 2025 if no action is taken. This challenge requires a regional scale approach that allows environmental, economic, technical and social disciplines to come together to build understanding of the many factors contributing to the problem, its impacts and how it can be solved. Over the last three years we have established an enthusiastic and engaged network across the region committed to designing and implementing solutions for lasting change in Ecuador, Peru and Chile. Our network has strong relationships with Research Institutions, National Park managers and Environment Ministries in each country. Our vision is to reduce plastic leakage in the Eastern Pacific region, supporting development of a sustainable, circular economic system for plastics. We propose an integrated, multidisciplinary project with three core aims. We will establish the sources and drivers of plastic pollution including the mapping of waste flows across the region and life cycle assessments of materials used in key industries. Secondly, we will identify the key economic, ecological and health and wellbeing impacts of the current plastic pollution that pervades this region. Thirdly, we will implement and test interventions to mitigate and reduce plastic pollution and help progress the region to circular approaches to plastic. As we are already working with stakeholders in the region, we have some co-designed interventions ready to test immediately. These innovations range from helping streamlining the monitoring of novel-technology based clean-up operations to trialling an innovative community-based scheme to recycle fishing nets. As part of an exciting region-wide educational campaign to develop targeted awareness-raising for inland and coastal schools and communities, students will be invited to design interventions to minimise urban plastic leakage. We will test the scalability and effectiveness of these ideas. The evaluation of these, in addition to data generated in Theme 1 and Theme 2 will support the design and testing of further social, environmental and technical innovations. To ensure the research achieves the maximum impact, the consortium partners include South American government agencies and departments, NGOs and business with extensive experience of engaging coastal communities in the region and equal partnerships between UK and South American universities to develop local research capacity through collaboration and training.

The presence and extent of plastic leaking into the environment is a system failure of monumental proportion that threatens the marine ecosystem and causes physical and chemical contamination at a global scale. It is estimated that 12 million tonnes of plastic enter the oceans each year and this has rapidly become a global concern. The economic damage of this plastic pollution amounts to around USD13 billion per annum due to degraded environments, loss of revenue from tourism, and costs of clean up and repair. This has associated impacts on human well-being. This is a particular issue in the Southeast Asian region, which is an area of great ecological, economic, and conservation importance, with high levels of endemic species. The health of this unique biodiversity is important, because it supports a variety of livelihoods and provides food security for large populations, many of whom live below the poverty line. SE Asia has been identified as the third largest regional generator of mismanaged plastic waste in the world. If no significant efforts are made to manage this, plastic waste inputs could double by 2060. This challenge requires a regional scale approach that allows environmental, economic, technical, and social disciplines to come together to build understanding of the many factors contributing to the problem, its potential impacts, and identify how it can be solved. Our network has strong relationships with Research Institutions, National Park managers, and Environment Ministries in each country. Our vision is to reduce plastic leakage in the Southeast Asian region, supporting development of a sustainable, circular economic system for plastics. We propose an integrated, multidisciplinary project with three core aims. We will establish the sources and drivers of plastic pollution including the mapping and life cycle of plastic waste flows across the region and how it moves once in the marine environment. Secondly, we will identify the key economic, ecological, and health and wellbeing impacts of the current levels of plastic pollution that pervades this region. Thirdly, we will implement and explore interventions to mitigate and reduce plastic pollution and help progress the region to circular approaches to plastic. As we are already working with stakeholders in the region, we have some co-designed interventions ready to test immediately. These innovations range from helping streamline the monitoring of novel-technology based clean-up operations to trialling an innovative community-based scheme to recycle fishing nets. To ensure the research achieves maximum impact, the consortium partners include Southeast Asian NGOs with extensive experience of engaging coastal communities in the region and equal partnerships between UK and Southeast Asian universities to develop local research capacity through collaboration and training.

In 2007 the first cases of a new form of infectious disease - a kind of pox - were reported from common birds in the UK. While pox is found in many birds, this usually occurs in low frequency and often with rather minor effects. The new form of pox occurs at higher frequency, and results in large infected lesions which have been found to cause death in wild birds, but otherwise very little is known about how the disease is transmitted and what effects it has on birds. This new form of pox seems to infect tits, in particular the great tit, at high frequency. In May 2010, this new disease appeared in a long-term study population of the great tit near Oxford, and has increased in frequency to infect almost 10% of great tits by November 2010. It is rare to study the emergence of a novel disease from the first cases, and this research aims both to understand the effect of this disease on birds, but also to study the factors determining its spread through two adjacent populations of tits, as well as more broadly through the UK. In order to do so we will: (1) Catch birds repeatedly to study rates of infection and the progression of the disease in infected birds; (2) Integrate information from captures with long-term study data to understand factors predisposing birds to disease; (3) Collate information from reports from the public concerning the distribution and spread of this disease; (4) Use post-mortem examination and molecular genetic tools to identify the pox virus responsible for these infections; (5) Issue requests to the public to collect further data on the spread of this disease in 2011. Infectious diseases can represent serious threats to wildlife; our aim with this research is both to assess the threat that this new disease poses to common UK garden birds, as well as to develop an understanding of the way in which it spreads through populations. Such knowledge is vital if we were to design interventions at a later stage.