SCP/RAC and Expéditions MED sign a partnership agreement to educate Mediterranean populations about plastic pollution issues

A new promising partnership was signed on May 20, 2021 between representatives of the Expeditions MED association and representatives of the Regional Activity Center for Sustainable Consumption and Production (SCP/RAC) to join forces and address the environmental, social and economic challenges related to plastic pollution in the Mediterranean.

Through this partnership, the two organizations aim to increase the impact of their respective actions in the field of the fight against marine litter and the identification of local solutions.

Expédition MED is creating moving exhibitions as part of its pilot program "Plastic Free Mediterranean Sea - Exhibitions for Education", with three partner countries: Morocco, Algeria and Italy. These moving exhibitions will trace the sources, origins and impacts of plastic waste and present sustainable solutions adapted to partner countries.

This collaboration focuses, for these exhibitions, on the creation of content promoting innovative solutions in the fight against pollution by plastic waste for each country. The main objective is to educate the Mediterranean population in order to know better and act better face the challenges of plastic pollution.

• SCP/RAC et The Switchers Support Programme

The Regional Activity Centre for Sustainable Consumption and Production (SCP/RAC) is a centre for international cooperation under the framework of two international treaties, the Barcelona Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment and the Coastal region of the Mediterranean and the Stockholm Convention for the fight against Persistent Organic Pollutants. The Centre has a sepcific mandate, assigned by the Mediterranean countries, to promote the shift to sustainable consumption and production patterns - 12th Sustainable Development Goal - in the region. In the performance of its mandate, SCP/RAC develops its activity as component of the Mediterranean Action Plan (MAP) of the United Nations Environment Programme (UN Environment).

One of the main programs managed by SCP/RAC is the Switchers Support Programme.

This program supports the development of green and circular businesses in the Mediterranean through an integrated strategy targeting green entrepreneurs, business support organizations, financial actors and policy makers. The success of this program, driven by the SwitchMed programme, has enabled the growth of the Switchers community: green entrepreneurs, inspiring innovators and changemakers around the Mediterranean.

The Center is also actively involved in the prevention of marine litter and plastic pollution, an urgent environmental challenge for the Mediterranean. SCP/RAC is developing its activity around its medium-term strategy on plastics aimed at reducing and preventing plastic pollution, reducing the toxicity and increasing the sustainability of plastics, strengthening the use of life cycle thinking and to support innovation.

• Expedition MED and the Vigieplastic Mediterranean” program

Expedition MED is an association bringing together a collective of scientists, environmentalists and European citizens who, since 2009, carry out scientific and participatory research programs in the Mediterranean while also carrying out actions for the implementation of sustainable solutions to fight against pollution from plastics. It is also initiating awareness campaigns with the creation of traveling moving educational and scientific exhibitions on this pollution.

The “Vigieplastic Mediterranean” program aims to promote a common regional approach to knowledge of plastic pollution in the Mediterranean. It offers a novel scientific and participatory approach, by collecting data on the entire Mediterranean basin. This program also offers an educational approach, by raising awareness and mobilizing the populations of countries bordering the Mediterranean on the issues of plastic waste at sea, based on data validated by the scientific community.

The main objective of this program is to disseminate knowledge on a large scale around the issues of pollution by plastic waste to all the populations of the Mediterranean basin.

The "Plastic Free Mediterranean Sea - Exhibitions for Education" program is an integral part of the "Vigieplastic Mediterranean" program and aims to strengthen cooperation between the countries bordering the Mediterranean around concrete and common actions aimed at combating plastic waste. and safeguarding ecosystems. The interest will be to inform, raise awareness and broadly educate Mediterranean populations, from the youngest to the oldest, about the dangers of rejecting and abandoning waste in the environment in order to change habits and perceptions. and behaviors.

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