The first international learning event of the Interreg CAPonLITTER project took place in the Southern Region of France from 11 to 13 March 2020 despite the COVID epidemic which prevented 4 partners from travelling.
Project partner 7 association MerTerre organized this three-days event on the waste management in several bathyal sites in the coastal and touristic cities of Marseille and La Ciotat.
The meeting had several objectives:
- share about the first regional stakeholder workshop organized all the partners during the first semester of the CAPonLITTER project and start to discuss about the challenges raised by professionals,
- share experiences on the ILE specific topic “waste management in bathing coastal sites”,
- start to define a common work plan with specific goals and a methodology allowing the partners to set-up a strategy related to the socio-ecosystem within our actions and plans,
- discuss about the project management, administrative and financial issues, communication, and the next steps of the project during the steering group meeting.
Two main axes have been highlighted by all the actors, the psycho-social/human being dimension and the technical one. Besides the common challenges faced by the different partners, each community has got its own specific challenges that we must consider. One of the important observations raised by a partner during this first ILE is that “we cannot and must not invent a general/global rule because it won’t be suited to every situation and region”. An analysis of the local challenges faced by the various stakeholders and discussions between partners all along the project agenda to exchange on the common issues and solutions that could be put in place in the different regions seemed more appropriate to all partners.
The main level of action of the CAPonLITTER project is to start from the analysis of the field, from the good practices already implemented in the different partner countries, to the taking implementation of concerted decisions at a European level. Lobbying is necessary at the a European level concerning "zero waste policies" to reinforce progressive directives such as the ‘single-use plastics’ one recently voted.
It was then particularly rewarding to observe the awareness and actions taken by a wide variety of sectors (all active French stakeholders in the CAPonLITTER project) to reduce their impact on marine ecosystems:
- sailing activities are moving ahead the World Olympic Games which will take place in Marseille in 2024. On the matter, Lise Vidal, technical officer at the French Federation of Sailing, said “I want to be exemplary and spread best practices to the sailing community in view of the Olympic Games”.
- For zero-waste beaches in La Ciotat, the CPIE Côte Provençale launched a new program “Committed shop owners for 0 waste beaches“ to help shop and restaurant owners to reduce their waste production (mainly disposable plastic tableware).
- A new path to virtuous governance of island was also introduced by the NGO SMILO. A cooperation program to support the islands towards sustainable development delivers a "sustainable island" label to islands that improve the management and conservation of their natural resources.
These good practices will be part of the Green Book, the final deliverable of the CAPonLITTER project, to be shared and replicated through Europe!
The first ILE will be followed by other exchange meetings in the other partners’ country to embrace a larger panel of topics related to marine litter issues linked to recreational and touristic activities.
You can find some photos of the ILE and read the meeting report here.
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