Puglia and Greece together for a cleaner world: 16 September in Taranto and Zakynthosfor for the Interreg Cooperation Day.
A clean-up day of the beaches to celebrate the Interreg Cooperation Day and the fight against marine pollution for the protection of the Environment: this is the aim of the event “Sentinels of the Sea” that will take place in Puglia Taranto, and in Greece on the island of Zakynthos on 16 September 2023 (9 a.m.), organised by the Interreg V-A Greece-Italy Cooperation Programme 2014-2020.

Free participation after registration at this link.
A simultaneous event on the shores of two coasts that share the same sea: the Region of Puglia and the Region of the Ionian Islands in Greece well understood that only through cooperation projects, by pooling sea defence strategies and concrete protection actions, can win and long-term results be achieved.
On the World Cleanup Day (WCD), the world’s largest civic action for cleaning and mapping waste to combat pollution, which actively involves more than 191 countries, citizens, institutions, economic operators and local associations from Taranto and Zakynthos, equipped with gloves and pliers, will clean the beaches from plastic: a macro awareness-raising action organised by Interreg Aether Project coordinated by the Regional Strategic Agency for the Ecosustainable Development of the Territory (ASSET Puglia) and aimed at the active involvement and transformation of the citizens of Europe into real “Sea Sentinels”.

This wave of cooperation also involves two other projects on the theme of protecting the sea: Plastic Busters Cap funded by Eni CBC Med programme and “Sea Marvel” funded by the Interreg V-A Italy-Malta programme, both focusing on techniques for monitoring and mitigating the effects of plastic and microplastic pollution in the sea. For the Plastic Busters Cap project lead by the University of Siena, the partner Legambiente local section of  Taranto will participate in the event.

During the event, LEPRE, the web-app developed by the Interreg Greece-Italy project AETHER for the reporting and shared mapping of waste, will also be officially launched, and a treasure hunt will be organised for children aged 6 to 10 years to be carried out in parallel with the cleanup activity.

The organisation is entrusted to Naps Lab in cooperation with the associations Jonian Dolphin Conservation and SiAmo Taranto.

The Interreg Cooperation Day is an initiative promoted by the European Union, on 21 September each year, to reflect on and highlight the results achieved by the 82 Territorial Cooperation Programmes financed throughout the Union. We celebrate the cooperation work between Puglia and Greece, which together face the common challenges of territorial development, promotion of culture, tourism and identity.