Coast Day 2007

Press release

On October 24th 2007, the launch of the 'Coast Day' will be celebrated. Coast Day is the central event of the awareness raising campaign on the value of the coasts and on Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) as the way forward to promote a sustainable development on our coasts. This campaign is implemented within the framework of the SMAP III MAP/METAP project, financed by the European Union and carried on by PAP/RAC of UNEP-MAP. The initiative aims at involving all relevant social actors, decision-makers, academia, NGOs, media, and the locals, to raise their concerns about the threats to which the coastal areas are exposed to. Although relatively small, coastal areas are considered to be the most valuable part of national territories in the most Mediterranean countries and world-wide. According to the Blue Plan Report on Environment and Development in the Mediterranean (RED, 2005), coastal regions, which occupy 12% of the national territory, are inhabited by 33% of their population. The total share of the Mediterranean population in the world is around 7%, while the Mediterranean is a destination for about one third of the world tourists. Despite the progress made, there is a latent but growing awareness throughout the Mediterranean that current development trends are unsustainable. Mediterranean people are becoming increasingly aware that it is just not possible to keep using resources, building up coastal areas and developing industries, especially tourism, without an adequate integrated planning framework. The importance of the issues at stakes in Mediterranean Region has encouraged many countries from the Mediterranean basin to join the Coast Day initiative as a way to promote a different vision for the future of coasts; coasts which are resilient, productive, diverse, distinctive, attractive, and healthy. Beach cleaning events, environmental education programs with young students, sea kayak expedition, and workshops are just examples of what has been done so far to spread the word. The Coast Day team is inviting all caring for the sustainability of our coasts to join this initiative and the voices to call for the change of the coastal development pattern towards sustainability. More information about the Coast Day is available at the Coast Day web site: http://www.coastday.org

Coast Day will be also celebrated in Greece! The Hellenic Centre for Marine Research (HCMR) decided to join us in the celebration of the Coast Day. HCMR is the leading partner of MEDPONDS, a LIFE project aiming at the protection and preservation of Mediterranean temporary ponds in Crete, by providing management solutions that can efficiently overcome the dominant habitat's threats in a long-term basis. For further information visit the website of HCMR http://www.hcmr.gr and the website of the project http://www.life-kriti.gr