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Fluvial litter pollution, produced always as a result of human activities, involves many consequences. It affects the aesthetic quality of the river banks, it constitutes a significant threat to wildlife and it can be potentially hazardous if riverine areas are used recreationally by humans. In addition, it represents one of the most important sources of pollution in the marine and ocean environment. This research attempts to study and identify the factors which contribute to litter; it is suggested that these drivers can help better understand the patterns of severity of fluvial litter in rivers and also may assist the identification of better management strategies to prevent litter at source. For the study of the drivers, three subcatchments in the River Taff and two in the River Ely, South Wales, UK, were chosen to relate the amounts of litter on their river banks with the subcatchment characteristics (drivers). After lot of research into drivers of marine litter, the hypothetical drivers that could affect in the fluvial environment were investigated. Drivers chosen were the social characteristics of population, the physical characteristics of the subcatchment (land use, river flow…) and distance to sewage inputs. Consequently, data representing all these drivers was compiled and its relationship with the litter data, collected in the field, was studied through a variety of statistical tools. The results of this field and desk top study showed that some drivers studied have a large influence on riverine litter. The main factor associated with most of the litter categories was fly tipping. From the statistical analysis, it appears that this problem is mainly influenced by the level of education of population, the recreational use of rivers and the land use of the sites. Whilst highly populated residential areas resulted in the most polluted areas, other drivers like age, type of residence, economic activity do not seem to have a direct relationship with fluvial li, Outgoing

Travel and fieldwork are integral to the geosciences, and it is usual for students, academics and professionals to need to assess the risks and hazards of a planned trip in advance. In the UK, health and safety law focusses on the idea of a “risk assessment” - a process by which hazards are identified and mitigations are planned to reduce the overall risk of the activity. A recent review of our risk assessment procedures highlighted the need to better consider the needs of a diverse community, including those with “protected characteristics” in UK law. These are defined in the Equality Act 2010 as: age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, and sexual orientation. We present our improved risk assessment forms and suggest some approaches to considering hazards and appropriate mitigations that particularly affect those people with protected characteristics. These include the need to consider how laws and attitudes, such as those towards women, or LGBT+ people, may affect the safety of participants. It is particularly important to address this in the geosciences, where fieldwork is frequently an integral part of teaching and learning activities.

Following the enactment of the Marine and Coastal Access Bill in November 2009, the Welsh Assembly Government (WAG) acquired the responsibility for the Act’s implementation in Wales' coastal zone. Responsibilities extend to devising and implementing a system of marine spatial planning as well as contributing towards the establishment of an ecologically coherent UK network of marine protected areas (MPAs) in response to various international including European commitments, most notably the OSPAR Commission’s Recommendation 2003.3 for a North East Atlantic MPA network (OSPAR, 2006). With already over half of Welsh coastal waters designated as marine sites within the Natura 2000 network, WAG has initiated efforts to establish a number of Highly Protected Marine Conservation Zones (HPMCZs) by 2011. It is intended that all potentially damaging activities and disturbance will be excluded from such zones, including extraction activity, thus affording ecosystem rather than simply ecological protection to these areas. To facilitate site selection and stakeholder engagement, WAG has established a process and created a number of pan-Wales forums. These include a high level Steering Group of government and government agency representatives, a Stakeholder Advisory Group with wide geographical and sectoral membership (largely based on the pre-existing Wales Coastal and Maritime Partnership), and a Technical Advisory Group - to provide technical support and advice to the aforementioned groups as well as to collect and collate relevant data to support the selection of the zones and to use this data to develop site proposals. With a legal duty to sustainable development and a commitment under the marine legislation for socio-economic needs to inform the definition of marine conservation zones, WAG is attempting to integrate socio-economic factors into the site selection process as well as facilitating better marine stewardship and conflict minimisation. This paper outlines the conte