Enhancing marine protected areas through waste recovery During the Re-think event held in Naples in July, Carmine Esposito, Head of Mare Vivo Campania region, presented Mare Vivo, an environmental association that has been working nationally and internationally for more than 40 years to protect the sea and the environment. It consists of its own scientific technical committee of University professors, researchers, and professionals who are experts in the various issues the association deals with. The association is divided into territorial delegations and divisions, such as the diving division, the marine protected areas division, the rivers division, and, most recently, the naval league division. The latter arose from a memorandum of understanding with the Italian Naval League as part of a project having as its object pollution, which aims to reduce marine pollution by microplastics. This battle has been carried on for some time now. All activities carried out by the association aim to increase the attention of public opinion and relevant institutions toward the sea. Among the activities carried out are environmental education, scientific research, sustainable development, training, information campaigns, and shoreline and seabed cleanup activities. In recent years, Esposito continued, environmental education programs have given much satisfaction. For example, the “Dolphin Guardians” project features children as protagonists. It aims to increase their awareness of the enormous environmental, landscape, and natural heritage that their territory possesses, as well as wanting to reverse the direction by trying to reduce the impact of pollution. At the end of the “Guardian Dolphins” course, the participating children will become true sentinels of the sea, able to carry out monitoring and reporting activities at the relevant maritime offices of the harbor master’s office. Numerous educational institutions throughout Italy have been reached with great satisfaction. Mare Vivo also, Esposito continued, schedules several educational visits with foundations...
Marine Ecosystem
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Ilaria Giannoccaro, associate professor at Politecnico of Bari, during the section dedicated to circular ports at the first edition of the Re-think Circular Economy Forum in Taranto last September, began her speech by emphasising the role of ports as accelerators of a circular economy and their importance in the context of circular economic development. Ports represent a unique opportunity to pursue objectives not only of environmental sustainability, but also of an economic and social nature, contributing to the growth of business competitiveness and job creation. The circular economy in ports passes through the application of the so-called ‘R’ strategies: transforming waste into resources, exploiting product life extension and giving priority to regenerative resources. In the first case, Prof. Giannoccaro refers to the creation of value through energy recovery, recycling and industrial symbiosis, in the second case she refers to the strategies of disassembly and remanufacturing, repair and reuse, as well as product rethinking strategies with a view to pay-per-use and finally, reduction strategies, to be applied in the design phase and use of recyclable materials. The centrality of ports for the circular economy is evident in the light of the huge flows of materials (raw materials, components and waste) that pass through them, but not only that. Ports are not only places of transports and logistics activities, but also of industrial activities with high energy requirements and responsible, together with the urban areas in which they are located, for the production of huge quantities of waste. In this respect, ports are often base to waste treatment, collection and disposal facilities, as well as numerous other economic activities that are part of the so-called Blue Economy (shipbuilding, offshore wind energy production, fishing and aquaculture). Recently, a European research project called LOOP Ports aimed to identify the different circular economy strategies adopted...
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26 October 2021Nowadays, there are many possibilities to get awarded, recognised and supported for sustainable ideas, projects and businesses. One of the most recently created global environmental prizes is the ‘Earthshot London Prize’, founded and currently run by The Royal Foundation of The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge until the initiative becomes its own entity by the end of this year. The Prize, whose first edition was held in 2021, was designed to incentivise and support change and to adjust our planet over the next 10 years. In order to do so, they decided to focus on five of the so-called ‘Earthshots’ – global goals – which aim at transforming our system in a more sustainable and equal one for now and tomorrow. For each of these Earthshot challenge, institutions, cities, companies, startups, organizations can propose a protection-oriented solution and who will propose the best one receive a global platform and prestigious profile with their stories to be illustrated over the ten years to anyone interested in order to have mass adoption, replication and scaling of them. Moreover, each winner will get £1 million in prize money to support environmental and conservation projects agreed with them. The Earthshots challenges are the following: Protect & Restore Nature: species all over the world are facing extinction or have been threatened by men because of improper ways of production, consumption and disposal; Build a waste-free world: the actual economic system is characterised by a logic of easily throwing away what we own and use, without properly considering whether they can be reused, repurposed or recycled; Clean our air: a lot of people breathe toxic air on a daily basis and this provokes numerous deaths that could actually be prevented by introducing 100% renewable energy for everyone, removing pollution caused by human activities and much more; Revive our oceans: life underwater is extremely at risk...
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15 April 2020By Rebecca Rolle – Marine Conservation Expert at Tondo English Version The project in collaboration with Worldrise Onlus and Arianna Liconti project manager of Worldrise Onlus, concerns the conservation and innovation of the ecosystem services characterizing the Marine Protected Areas (MPA), with particular attention to the protection of marine biodiversity. The MPA represent an element of sustainable development. It allows the conservation of biodiversity and natural processes; it provides shelter for endangered and threatened species and areas where fish can reproduce; it protects critical habitats from damage due to practices of destructive fishing and other human activities, catches of fish (in size and quantity) in the surrounding fishing sites up to 80%; it increases the resilience of ecosystems; it maintains local cultures, economies, tourism and livelihoods related to the marine environment; it maintains the promotion of education, training and scientific research activities, and compatible recreational activities; it allows control guaranteed by research and innovation for the waste cycle and water purification. Biodiversity is the basis for the wealth of nations. In addition to intrinsic value, biodiversity is important because it is a source of goods and services for humanity, directly and indirectly, an essential aspect for its survival and prosperity. These services are called: ecosystem services (ES) and they represent “the benefits that people get from the ecosystem”. Biodiversity depends on the ability of natural systems to provide the ES that support the life of humankind and guarantee the life of all species. ES lead to better well-being of human communities capable of creating development opportunities, less vulnerability and greater health and resilience of natural systems. They consist of the production of food, the availability of water, raw materials, genetic resources, functions and processes of ecosystems such as absorption of pollutants, protection from erosion and floods, maintenance of water quality,...