Pollution of the Ocean: Global Threats, Local Action

Description

The oceans are under continued strong human pressures that cause degradation. These pollution is a serious problem to tackle to ensure the Good Environmental Status (GES) endorsed in the European Marine Strategy Framework Directive. The knowledge of the ocean by younger people and each additional contribution to the understanding of GES descriptors is essential for this process. The project proposes to carry out 8 initiatives to students of different levels of education to take place in the classroom, and in the context of non-formal disclosure, to promote the importance and values of the Ocean, its resources, and its preservation, stimulating the desire for the seafaring profession and contributing to achieve and maintain long-term GES. These initiatives will sensitize 750 young people from Elementary and Secondary Education, 3000 visitors are expected for the traveling exhibition, and it will foster a minimum of 2000 accesses on the Ocean Literacy website.

Summary of project results

The awareness, education and training of the younger generations and society in general for Ocean Literacy, in particular for integrated knowledge of the Ocean, the resources and services it provides to human populations, the enormous pressures it has suffered and its consequences have been thus defined as fundamental objectives to promote the understanding by the population of the need to ensure the good environmental status of the marine environment and its active contribution to the preservation and management of the Oceans. The execution of the Project was as planned and, in most of the indicators, far exceeded the forecast of initiatives to be developed. In total, 48 practical experimental science activities were carried out on the subject of ocean pollution (668 students, 36 classes) and 19 scientific lectures in schools (864 students, 39 classes). Eight lectures were held in public or scientific congresses (740 assistants) and 7 beach cleaning actions with the schools involved (7 classes, 149 students). The "Plastic Sea" traveling exhibition was exhibited at 8 sites during the project's duration (counting on the visit of 5404 students and teachers), and is still exhibited in 2 more places after its completion (see table of total indicators for annex). The website oceanaction.pt was created, which had, in the period between January 2016 and March 2017, 2,754 visits. The site provides extensive information on marine pollution, activities developed, such as help and news, as well as the 6 protocols of experimental activities (http://oceanaction.pt/recursos) and a quizz game (http://oceanaction.pt / games) developed under this project. A facebook page of the project (www.facebook.com/OceanActionPortugal), which has 1140 followers, was also created. A national contest on ocean pollution was conducted, targeting different target age groups and with four participation modalities: recycle, poster awareness, photography and infographics, with the participation of 34 school groups and 105 works to the competition. The winning works were distinguished in a Gala held for this purpose at the Secondary School of Santa Maria da Feira. The Ocean Action campaign, which results from the combination of the EEA projects "Ocean Pollution" and "Sea of Plastic", was awarded the GreenProjectAwards 2016 prize, which unequivocally certifies the success and quality of the project.

Summary of bilateral results