“We are very happy to be part of the ENSERES. I believe that our experience will be important for the project. Together, implementing and improving new models of coastal management, we can enhance the management of our Mediterranean shores”, says Alessio Satta, president of MEDSEA.

The MEDSEA Foundation is one of the main partners of the ENSERES project, focused on transferring and mainstreaming models of integrated coastal zones management based on natural resources and ecosystem conservation.

MEDSEA will bring its relevant experience in increasing the capacity of local and regional stakeholders to coalesce in a unified project and implement transformative actions aimed at protecting, restoring and sustainably developing Mediterranean coastal areas.  Under the coordination of the University of Malaga, MEDSEA will also contribute to the creation and implementation of the communication strategy. The City of Sfax in Tunisia and the Tyre Coastal Nature Reserve in Lebanon will be the receivers of the transfer activities.

The EBM (Ecosystem based management) and ICZM (Integrated Coastal Zone Management) approaches have been successfully applied by MEDSEA in the Maristanis project, which since 2017 works in the Gulf of Oristano, Sardinia, Italy.

For five years now, MEDSEA has been taking care of the six Ramsar sites surrounding the gulf and the communities living around them. A period during which conservation and restoration of biodiversity, as well as the parallel attempt to establish a model for sustainable development, were slowly and carefully built through a constant presence in the area. Research centers, political institutions, artisans, entrepreneurs, fishermen and environmentalist organizations have been involved in a constellation of meetings and activities, in a round of analyses, doubts and solutions. A real, solid bottom-up process that in 2021 resulted in a “Coastal Contract” capable of putting together 11 municipalities, the Oristano Province, the Reclamation Consortium, the Sardinia Regional Government and numerous representatives from civil and economic society in a new paradigm of integrated governance. The experience gathered during the Maristanis project has been enhanced in the same territory with the participation to other projects: Tune-UP, MEDSEAGRASS, REST-COAST and TransformAr.

ENSERES (ENhancing Socio-Ecological RESilience in Mediterranean coastal areas) is funded by the European Union under the Euro-Mediterranean cooperation program ENI CBC Med.