Plastic Busters MPAs is an Interreg MED funded project aiming to maintain biodiversity and preserve natural ecosystems in pelagic and coastal marine protected areas by consolidating Mediterranean efforts against marine litter.
WHAT DOES THE PROJECT CONSIST IN?
Plastic Busters MPAs provides a comprehensive, multifaceted and coordinated approach to fight marine litter in Mediterranean coastal and marine protected areas towards healthy marine ecosystems. Its main lines of action focus on:
- Defining and testing harmonized methodologies for monitoring marine litter
- Assessing the marine litter impacts on biota dwelling in MPAs
- Identifying marine litter hotspots in MPAs
- Showcasing marine litter prevention and mitigation measures
- Building capacities and transferring knowledge on marine litter issues
- Setting up a joint governance plan for managing marine litter in pelagic and coastal MPAs
Plastic Busters MPAs entails actions addressing the whole management cycle of marine litter, from monitoring and assessment to prevention and mitigation. Through the creation of a Plastic Busters Network for tackling marine plastic pollution in the Mediterranean, it also aims to strengthen networking between and among coastal and pelagic MPAs (Marine Protected Areas) in the region.
EXPECTED RESULTS/OBJECTIVES
Plastic Busters MPAs’s expected results are:
- A quantitative and qualitative diagnosis of the impacts of marine litter in Mediterranean MPAs and on marine biodiversity, including endangered species;
- An enhanced protection of biodiversity and natural ecosystems in pelagic and coastal MPAs through targeted prevention and mitigation actions;
- An accelerated knowledge transfers to Mediterranean MPAs and scaling-up of best practices to tackle marine litter through enhanced institutional uptake of project results.
PARTNERSHIP
Plastic Busters MPAs is being implemented by a consortium of 15 partners and 17 associated partners from 8 Mediterranean countries.
Project’s website: https://plasticbustersmpas.interreg-med.eu/