CAPonLITTER partners and stakeholders gathered in Brussels on the 17th of May to hold a high-level dissemination event organised by project partner Zero Waste Europe. At the event entitled “Zero Waste at the Coast” project partners presented the CAPonLITTER Action Plans and some of the best practice initiatives developed for the improvement of policies on waste prevention. Zero Waste Europe was the project partner hosting the public dissemination event. They asked partners to present the “recipe for success” of CAPonLITTER actions in our regions.
From IU-ECOQUA (ULPGC) as project partner we have very clear that the recipe for success of CAPonLITTER project in Fuerteventura Island relies on the combination of a well-organized Interregional learning process and a well-founded local participation process.
The ingredients for this recipe for success have been:
- Set-up a strong participative process to attend a global problem locally.
- Due to COVID pandemics we had to go online! Developed methodologies for online ILEs and regional participative processes. And gave our best!
- When several institutional changes occurred, we grounded on those key stakeholders who were already involved and supportive of the process.
- The participatory methodology was fine tuned to be adjusted to the specificities of the local process.
- Listen to stakeholders to identify their needs and barriers for the reduction of waste linked to recreational and tourist activities.
- Nurture local networking and boost local initiatives.
- Local stakeholders valorised the importance of the European partnership and the big potential of interregional learning.
The agreed Action Plan for the reduction of marine litter linked to tourism and recreation in Fuerteventura Island relates to the policy instrument Strategic Tourist Plan of Fuerteventura, and incorporates 4 actions that are based in best practices learnt from the European partnering regions and in enhancing practices pre-existent in the island:
- Action 1: Blue Bag initiative transfer
- Action2: Sustainable toolkit tor tourist accommodation sector
- Action 3: Zero waste events on the coast
- Action 4: Sustainable and zero waste beach
And there is even more to come as the interest of replication in the regional level has been identified. The aim is to adapt and implement the learnings of CAPonLITTER Project to the other 7 Canary Islands, and further within the Macaronesian Region.
