ECOPORTIL - A Programme co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund
Project Title: Environmental Protection of Areas Surrounding Ports using Innovative Learning Tools for Legislation
Project Acronym: ECOPORTIL
Increasing of shipping traffic at Balkan MED area has raised critical issues concerning the environmental quality of coasts and sea water, mainly due to the extremely voluminous and complex legislation regarding the environmental protection. The legislation implementation requires modern tools for the training & education stakeholders involved at port activities, public officers and all working to ports that affect through many different ways, the coastal environment. Requirement of continying training about environmental protection and sustainability issues is considered a major factor Ignorance, lack of organization & accessibility to the relative legislation as well as the problematic implementation of national/international legislation comprise to the gradual degradation of the environment in port areas and the surrounding coastal waters. All ECOPORTIL outputs & results, training material will be available to all EU citizens.
In recent years, the misuse of resources and means related to ports; their expanding structures and activities have significantly influence the nearby coastal environment. ECOPORTIL project aims to train on the environmental legal framework and so to improve the environmental quality of ports and their surrounding coastal areas by supporting their sustainability, through the implementation of modern methodologies and good practices, the creation of a strong educational/ training background according to EU and national legislation as well as through innovative tools and methods for the training and capacity building of relevant stakeholders as a prevention measure of pollution and preservation of natural maritime resources. ECOPORTIL will provide ICT tools (open to all); consolidated managing approaches and educational background for addressing these challenges and their prompt solution, with guaranteed positive effects on coastal environment protection and sustainability.
Innovative methods & tools will further expanded to carry out analyses of EU and national standards. There will be applied monitoring systems at ports and coastal areas to provide to all essential information concerning environmental monitoring and regulation requirements. They will take into account the ports needs to create productive methodologies (common shared guidelines) for implementation of EU& national legislations during education and training processes. Advanced tools (eco-mapping, WebGIS, elearning platform), which will be open and accessible to all EU citizens; their application will contribute to improve marine environment within the ports in Balkan-Med region and will provide to port authorities, governmental institutes & society in general with an innovative, updated management scheme based on ICT & "digital environment" supporting port authorities to response to eco-management and environmental training qualification needs.
