September month is marked by European Cooperation Day. On 21 September and the surrounding weeks, the EU programmes are celebrating cooperation and the projects’ achievements. Further, in 2020 Interreg turns 30, a new reason to celebrate cooperation in all its shapes.
This year we also faced the most unexpected challenge, the COVID-19 pandemic, when solidarity and collaboration was needed to defeat coronavirus. And because we want you to stay safe during this challenging time, we prepared for you 5 evidences for connection in Black Sea Basin, one for each priority and one to sum up the beneficiaries’ hard work.
#1 Evidence is related to tourism and culture around Black Sea Basin
TREASURE (BSB 371) – Artificial Reefs Submerge Ceremony
On 27 November 2019, was officially launched the underwater museum in Enez city, Turkey, by submerging the historical artefacts in the water near to the old port of Ainos ancient town.
The area of nearly 300 m2 was differentiated as an archaeological underwater field through placing back the copies of artefacts that were found years ago at the bottom of the sea shaping an underwater museum for diving/scuba or snorkel diving activities.
#2 Evidence presents the cross-border trade opportunities for agricultural and agro-industrial products
AgroNet (BSB294) – AGRODEALS Platform
AGRODEALS is an online multilingual agricultural trading platform that connects potential buyers and sellers, including distributors and processors. It aims to have a modern online space, where all information related to the trade of agricultural products are available free of charge in a consolidated space.
The online platform enables business partners of agricultural products in the countries of the Black Sea region to connect with international buyers and receive important commercial information to support import and export processes.
#3 Evidence refers to the environmental monitoring
ANEMONE (BSB319) – Western Black Sea Cetacean Survey
The project focusses on the pile of quality controlled and comparable data sets for the Black Sea environmental status assessment via pilot monitoring studies in selected study areas: coastal and open sea following testing of the Black Sea Monitoring and Assessment Guidance in order to assess the status of the Black Sea, as a basis for further actions.
The video material was created from scenes of two line-transect boat survey carried out in the Marmara Sea and western Turkish Black Sea coast in 2019 to understand the distribution and abundance of cetaceans.
#4 Evidence focusses on the waste management
ZEWSGES (BSB257) – Marine litter recognizes no borders
The project team is going “fishing for litter” with a small “army” of hundreds of fishermen, students, teachers and civil society organizations. They are collecting plastics around the Black Sea, to clean up square kilometres of beaches and water. And they are learning how a good solid waste management could reduce the pollution’s impact on our precious ecosystems.
# 5 Evidence is a summary of beneficiaries’ collaboration
The visuals that convey the project story or provide a connection to the Black Sea Basin is the image of cooperation and important work done for the people of the border regions. We’ve created a collage for each one of the projects from the first call. But there’s more to come; the second call projects are moving forward and more results are expected.
No matter the distance, we are celebrating together European Cooperation Day and Interreg 30!