Over 10 initiatives organised in the Lebanon for a cleaner sea
The awareness campaign to clean all Mediterranean beaches from waste will start on May 14 and will end on May 30
Clean Up The Med, the awareness campaign to raise awareness among citizens on the reduction of marine litter, returns on May 14, for two mobilization weekends that will involve associations, universities, municipalities, public bodies, schools and citizens. From Morocco to France, from Greece to Malta, from Croatia to Palestine, hundreds of volunteers also this year will meet each other on the beaches of the whole Mediterranean, armed with buckets, sacks, and gloves with a single goal: to clean them of waste for a cleaner sea.
The campaign will start on the weekend of 14, 15 and 16 May and will continue throughout the Mediterranean on the weekend of 28, 29 and 30 May. A major environmental volunteer initiative promoted this year by COMMON (COastal Management and Monitoring Network for tackling marine litter in Mediterranean sea), a European project funded by Eni CBC Med Programme that involves Italy, Lebanon and Tunisia with the aim of protecting the coasts of the Mediterranean from the marine litter through sustainable management.
This year, despite the arrival of a marked summer for the second consecutive year since the Covid-19 emergency, 85 organizations from 16 countries have joined the initiative: Italy, France, Spain, Algeria, Lebanon, Tunisia, Egypt, Palestine, Croatia, Cyprus, Morocco, Malta, Turkey, Libya, Greece, and Monaco. In addition to the physical removal of waste, the campaign aims to raise awareness in the community, to restore cleaner beaches, coasts, and reefs and to monitor the health of the Mediterranean coasts. The campaign will take place in complete safety, a sign that the fight for a cleaner planet is a priority without borders.
The AMWAJ of the Environment in Lebanon joins this big event with more than 10 of activities and events scheduled, in corporation with 28 organizations and stakeholders involved : Lebanese Environment Forum LEF, Tyr Municipalities Union, Tyr Coast Nature Reserve, Green Party of Lebanon, Tyr Municipality, Saida Municipality, Al Abbassia Municipality, Kharayeb Municipality, Lebanese Environmental Organization LEO, Lebanese Forum for Sustainable Development, Human Environmental Association for Development HEAD, Friends of Ziret and Saida Beach Organization, Window to Environment, Environment Protection Organization in Tyr, Green Southerners, Youth of Qana Organization, Ambassadeurs de la citoyenneté ADLC, Al Jarrah Scouts, Cultural Assembly of Youth in Tyr, Environment Protection Committee EPC, Environmental Scouts in Lebanon, Inmaa2 Foundation, Islamic Risala Scouts in Mansouri, Maarouf Saad Organization, Arabic Scouts in Lebanon, Purify Nature Org, and Sahel Forum.
Every year, the beaches and the seabed of the Mediterranean Sea collect more than 8 tons of waste, of which over 80% is plastic: from bottle caps to toys, from cotton buds to bags. Human activities and poor waste management on land are, as is now known to most, among the main causes of stranded waste. As stated by the World Bank, in the southern Mediterranean countries a constant trend towards increasing per capita waste production has emerged in recent years, with an average of 489 kg of waste per year, which is destined to increase in the future (+ 29% in 2030 and + 50% in 2050) because of population growth and the predominant linear economic paradigm. Even if the data available for the Southern Mediterranean countries are limited, an increase in the plastic fraction seems to be emerging. In Lebanon, more than 625 volunteers in 10 sites along the coast from South Lebanon in Tyr Coast to the North in Tripoli, participated in the clean-up where 6350 kg of wastes has been collected that contains around 3800kg of plastics, 1025 glass and 295 kg of papers. These wastes were sent to recycling centres or to collection centres in municipalities and then to recycling facilities.
On the occasion of the campaign, the COMMON project will allow the monitoring and collection of useful data to analyse the state of health of the Mediterranean: the kilos and the type of waste collected during each appointment will be processed and made available on www.commonproject.it, a portal created to collect information and tools on the problem of marine litter in the Mediterranean Sea and to enhance the importance of protecting our sea and the biodiversity it preserves. Furthermore, also this year the number of gloves, masks and protective devices will be surveyed.
On 23 May 2021, Clean-up activities were held in Tyr (Tyr Coast Nature Reserve, Roman city Beach), Mansouri Beach, Al Abbassia protected area, Kharayeb Beach (Zarifa B Resort), in Saida (public beach), in Beirut (Ramleh Bayda Beach and Saint Simon Beach), in Qalamoun Beach, and Tripoli Beach.
Many activities were implemented in the pilot area of Tyr in addition to cleaning and monitoring marine litter on the beach, divers also participated in cleaning the oil spill under water especially after the evaluation of oil spill impact and biodiversity and sand pollution, with several meetings and communication events among relevant stakeholders for coordination, networking and raising awareness on marine litter , the launch of the Blue network to clean up the beach and sea .
It is possible to join one or more activities on the calendar by writing to: amwajenvt@yahoo.org
And if you want to join as a group, or simply want to clean your nearest beaches, you can tag COMMON Med Project on social media with the hashtag #CleanUpTheMed.