UB’s Hummingbird Analytical Laboratory Has Been Placed on the World Map by the Prestigious Scientific Journal Nature

Press Release

The Hummingbird Analytical Laboratory (HAL) at the University of Belize (UB)’s Belmopan Campus has positioned itself on the world stage as one of the only two microplastics laboratories in the Americas (both in Belize) forming part of an international laboratory network comprised of 15 laboratories working towards global harmonized microplastics monitoring. With financial support from the UK government through the Commonwealth Litter Programme (CLiP) and the Ocean Country Partnership Programme (OCPP) implemented by the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Cefas), as well as through the strategic partnership with the Belize Department of the Environment (DOE), the HAL is now equipped with state-of-the-art analytical instrumentation and trained staff with increased laboratory capacity in microplastics sample collection, processing, and analysis in beach sand, sediment, surface and water column, and biota matrices.

The UB would like to congratulate all the authors who were involved in writing the journal article “Creation of an international laboratory network towards global microplastics monitoring harmonisation” as part of this global initiative, headed by Dr. Adil Bakir of Cefas. It also congratulates the co-authors Dr. Joaquin Urbina, Mr. Eduardo Barrientos, Ms. Cecy Castillo and Ms. Shareen Arnold of the Faculty of Science and Technology at UB and Mr. Henry Sanchez of the DOE.

This milestone achievement would not have been possible without the financial support from the UK government through the CLiP and OCPP and the technical expertise from Cefas. The HAL at UB would also like to sincerely thank the DOE for this momentous opportunity to build laboratory capacity for microplastics monitoring in Belize and the rest of the planet through its bilateral projects with the UK government, with the UB as the research centerpiece in its mandate.

Published in Nature, one of the world’s most reputable journals, this hallmark peer-reviewed article emphasizes the sheer importance of monitoring the presence, abundance, and fate of microplastics through a harmonised laboratory network, ensuring robust methodologies that lead to reliable data for informed policy-making at the highest level to improve livelihoods.

Furthermore, the HAL is proud to build additional laboratory capacity in microplastics, ocean acidification, blue carbon, mercury, water quality, and pesticide residue analysis through Technical Cooperation (TC) projects funded by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) as it strives to become the national leader in environmental stressors and pollution monitoring and research and a regional hub that aims to support the ongoing efforts against global pollution and climate change.

The newly published journal article is now available free of charge by accessing the link https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-024-62176-y.

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