The ocean "exposome" : a new frontier for protecting the health of our seas

Faced with the proliferation of chemicals in the marine environment, the interdisciplinary PREVENT project, led by the Laboratory of Climate and Environmental Sciences (LSCE-IPSL) as part of the Priority Research Programme (PPR) ‘Ocean and Climate’, is experimenting with a new comprehensive approach to marine pollution. It is deploying significant resources to attempt to predict the combined impact of historical and emerging pollutants on marine organisms and ecosystems. The aim is to anticipate risks in the context of climate change and energy transition and to co-develop the regulations of tomorrow.

The ocean is no longer just our planet’s thermal regulator or the cradle of fascinating biodiversity. Over the decades, it has become the ultimate receptacle for contamination from our human activities.

While marine pollution has long been addressed in a segmented manner – plastic on one side, heavy metals on the other – modern science is attempting a new, more comprehensive approach. Just as human medicine studies the influence of the environment on our health, scientists are now looking at the oceanic ‘exposome’.

Launched in 2024 as part of the Priority Research Programme (PPR) Ocean and Climate and coordinated by the Laboratory of Climate and Environmental Sciences (LSCE-IPSL), the interdisciplinary project PREVENT (Predicting the Evolution and Biological Impact of the Ocean Exposome in the Context of Environmental Transition) is at the heart of this ambition.

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