ECOMONDO – The Green Technology Expo 2021

During the ECOMONDO – The Green Technology Expo 2021, Prof. Koundouri participated at the joint event of Ecomondo and Blue Sea Land “Connecting the system of Ports and Harbours to unlock the potential in preventing and reducing the effects of Marine Litter across the Mediterranean Sea”. She gave a speech at the session 3 “Upscaling local actions into systems”.

In her speech she brought the approach of the Roundtable for Sustainable Shipping and Ports and identified the guidelines and key practices to support waste reduction/circularity in the port/ships interface, promoting the transferability of good practices towards other contexts across Mediterranean area.

Wednesday 27th October

"Connecting the system of Ports and Harbours to unlock the potential in preventing and reducing the effects of Marine Litter across the Mediterranean Sea" | Ecomondo and Blue Sea Land Joint Event

Organized by: Ecomondo Scientific Technical Committee, Blue Sea Land, Cluster BIG, Federpesca, National Research Council of Italy (CNR), BLUEMED GSOs

European, National and Regional policy instruments have been developed to prevent and reduce the environmental and socioeconomic impact due to the mismanagement of waste coming from marine and coastal activities. With the aim to close the loop of maritime waste cycle, specific actions to address waste prevention and waste deliver in harbours have been proposed and here showcased. EU Directive 2000/59/EC on port reception facilities (PRF) for ship-generated waste and cargo residues obliges Member States to ensure the availability of adequate port reception facilities so as to reduce the discharges of ship-generated waste and cargo residues into the sea. Harmonisation of the waste disposal rate structure provisions in the PRF Directive could be helpful to enhance the effectiveness of the instrument. The Commission also supports the implementation of the flagship Directive on Single-Use Plastics (SUP) in line with the EU Green Deal and the circular economy package. Here the gaps for the implementation of marine litter solutions are discussed together with key National and Mediterranean actors with the aim to bring local actions into systems.

16.10 – 17.00 – Session 3: Upscaling local actions into systems

Chair: Stefania Valentini, Federpesca

  • Francesca Biondo, Federpesca
  • Stefania Di Vito, Legambiente
  • Roberto Cimino, Cluster BIG
  • Phoebe Koundouri, Athens University of Economics and Business; Fellow World Academy of Art and Science; President-Elect of the European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists; Co-chair SDSN Europe & SDSN Greece

Learn more here.