Tackling plastic pollution in the Med

Addressing plastic solution and the impact of plastics in the Mediterranean are at the focus of the Plastic Waste Free Islands Med Final Event (PWFI) being organised in Nicosia on Thursday by Cyprus Sustainable Tourism Initiative (CSTI) with the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and Together Cyprus in the framework of the IUCN “Close the Plastic Tap Programme”.

The event will be held under the auspices of the Deputy Minister of Tourism and includes presentations by IUCN representatives, CSTI and Together Cyprus with the following topics: “Solutions to the plastic pollution crisis”, “Economic assessment of marine plastics, evidence from IUCN projects”, “Results of the PWFI Med project in Cyprus”, and “The current initiatives on plastics in Cyprus”.

The presentations will be followed by a panel discussion with the subject “Tackling Plastic Pollution”. The panel will consist of representatives of IUCN Med, the Department of Environment, the Department of Fisheries and Marine Research, the hospitality industry and the Cyprus Sustainable Tourism Initiative (CSTI). The Cultural Performance will be by the Tat-Tnabar Group. The musical instruments that they use are recycled materials.

The ‘Keep Our Sand and Sea Plastic Free’ project photo exhibition “Plastic Pollution – another threat to the beauty of our sand and sea & key contributor to environmental degradation”, funded by the British High Commission in Cyprus, will be on display.

Also as part of the initiative a clean-up of the Pedios River is being organised on Wednesday.

The Plastic Waste-Free Islands Mediterranean project’s goal is to drive the circular economy agenda forward and to reduce plastic waste generation and leakage from islands. The initiative was launched in 2019 by IUCN-Med with support from the Didier and Martine Primat Foundation as part of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)’s global “Close the Plastic Tap Programme”.  The Cyprus Sustainable Tourism Initiative (CSTI) and Together Cyprus are responsible for the project’s coordination in Cyprus.

CSTI, the Leading Organisation of Sustainable Tourism in Cyprus since 2006, is committed to the protection of the environment. CSTI continues its focused efforts of awareness raising and education for reducing the pollution of our seas and rivers.

The event will be held on Thursday, at 18:00 at Melina Mercouri Hall in Nicosia.

The event will be held in English and registration is required to attend.