More than 110 participants from 18 Mediterranean countries came together at the hybrid capitalization conference organized by the Plastic Busters MPAs project in the beautiful city of Vlora, located in the Karaburun-Sazan Marine Protected Area (MPA) in Albania. All Plastic Busters CAP partners -some of which are leading partners of the Plastic Busters MPAs project- joined the two-day event that featured the knowledge, know-how and experiences obtained by the implementation of the Plastic Busters MPAs demonstration and replication actions addressing the entire management cycle of marine litter, from monitoring and assessment to prevention and mitigation.

The Interreg Med Plastic Busters MPAs project is the backbone of Plastic Busters CAP; both projects are implemented within the framework of the Union for the Mediterranean labelled Plastic Busters initiative that addresses the issue of marine litter and plastic pollution in the entire Mediterranean region. The initiative’s valuable results and achievements were possible thanks to the foresight and great support of bodies like the Union for the Mediterranean that labelled the overall initiative already back in 2016. The Union for the Mediterranean(UfM) Head of the Environment and Blue Economy Sector Alessandra Sensi highlighted that “The Mediterranean leads by example: Plastic Busters shows how commitment and unprecedented collaboration on marine litter and circular economy, can make the difference and influence the development of the region through scientific evidence and associated decision making”.

The conference which was held from the 23rd till the 24th of February 2022 and entitled “Learning together: how to curb marine plastic pollution in Mediterranean MPAs” was graced by the presence of high-level officials such as the Deputy Minister of Tourism and Environment of Albania, Vilma Bello, the General Secretary of the Ministry of Tourism and Environment of Albania, Ledina Beqiraj Agalliu, the Prefect of Vlora, Flamur Mamaj, the Coordinator of UNEP/MAP Tatjana Hema, the UfM Head of the Environment and Blue Economy Sector, Alessandra Sensi, the Senior Expert of the European Commission Directorate General of Environment Michail Papadoyannakis. The event was organised jointly by the Ministry of Tourism and Environment of Albania together with MIO-ECSDE and project partners.

The importance of the Plastic Busters MPAs project in tackling marine litter in the Mediterranean was highlighted by Tatjana Hema, the Coordinator of United Nations Environment Programme/Mediterranean Action Plan, in her intervention where she stated: “We are happy to have supported and contributed to the Plastic Busters MPAs project since its launch back in 2018. The project has an important agenda merging the topics of marine litter, marine environment pollution and Mediterranean MPAs, all priority topics also for UNEP/MAP. I am pleased to see that the experiences obtained are shared herewith today and that a momentum for replication is being built so that the project can continue to contribute to the implementation of the upgraded regional plan for marine litter management in the Mediterranean.”

It has been almost 4 years since Plastic Busters MPAs started on its journey to address marine litter in Mediterranean MPAs and the project has achieved a lot: a first-of-its-kind comprehensive diagnostic analysis of the presence and effects of marine litter in Mediterranean MPAs; marine litter monitoring and assessment tools and approaches; showcases and guidelines of best practice measures, particularly focused on slashing single-use plastics in Mediterranean MPAs, and so much more.

The Plastic Busters MPAs results and outputs achieved in northern Mediterranean countries (Albania, Croatia, France, Greece, Italy, Montenegro, Spain, Slovenia) will now have the great opportunity through the Plastic Busters CAP to be replicated in southern Mediterranean countries, namely Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon and Tunisia and thus provide a collective Mediterranean-wide response to the marine litter threat in the region.