David Santillo

Senior Scientist
Greenpeace International

Dr David Santillo is a marine biologist and analytical chemist who works as a scientist at the Greenpeace Research Laboratories, based at the University of Exeter in the UK. In addition to his research on environmental pollution, David has represented Greenpeace International at meetings of the Scientific Groups and Governing Bodies of the London Convention and London Protocol since the mid-1990s, contributing to the development of guidance and regulations (including those relating to marine geoengineering activities) and bringing other emerging issues of concern to the attention of those meetings.  He has also played an active role in meetings under the OSPAR Convention over the same period, including work within committees addressing the offshore oil and gas industry, hazardous substances and the protection of biodiversity from human activities.  David has co-authored papers and technical reports on a wide range of environmental issues, including a number of recent collaborative studies on plastic pollution in marine and freshwater systems, and in a personal capacity was a contributory author to GESAMP Report No. 108 on sea-based sources of marine litter, published in 2021.  He recently contributed to a perspectives paper in the journal of the Institute of Environmental Sciences reflecting on the role that NGOs have played in the development of the environmental agenda in the 50 years since the Stockholm Conference.