Title:
Subcontractors of Frederick University for the ‘Environmental Protection of Areas Surrounding Ports using Innovative Learning Tools for Legislation’ (ECOPORTIL) project
Duration:
3 months (February 2020 – May 2020)
Funded by:
Interreg Balkan-Mediterranean
Subcontracted by:
Frederick University (Department of Maritime Transport & Commerce)
Project Description:
The ECOPORTIL Project aims to improve the environmental quality of ports and their surrounding coastal environment by supporting their sustainability, through the implementation of modern methodologies and good practices according to EU and national legislation as well as through innovative tools and methods for the training and capacity building of stakeholders in the ports and nearby coastal zones as a prevention measure of pollution and preservation of natural maritime resources.
MER Lab was subcontracted by Frederick University to implement an important working package of the Interreg Balkan-Mediterranean programme ECOPORTIL. The working package involved two deliverables that focused on the current environmental status of Limassol New Port and the surrounding area and Ecomapping of Limassol port, both of which are critical steps towards the enhancement of Limassol’s Port environmental performance.
More specifically, the contract anticipated the following services from MER Lab:
Deliverable 1: To underline the current environmental status of the study area using peer-reviewed or gray literature, and provide all legislative background regarding shipping/maritime activities. More specifically, the deliverable summarizes the climatic conditions, seismic activity, geomorphological characteristics, and the terrestrial/marine environment of Limassol, Cyprus. The submitted deliverable provided information on the current infrastructure of Limassol, and the various anthropogenic impacts on the marine environment of Limassol. Finally, these were complemented by international, European and national legislative background, relevant to maritime activities.
Deliverable 2: To underline the harmful effects of sea infrastructure, with particular focus on ports as well as the need for environmental assessment and monitoring based on peer-reviewed or gray literature, so that ports can improve their environmental performance. The submitted deliverable gave special emphasis on the ‘ecomapping’, its methodology, and the results after its implementation as one of the primary steps for potentially optimizing the environmental monitoring plan of Limassol’s New Port. Finally, the deliverable sheds light on the impacts of the identified port-associated pressures to the surrounding environment and highlights how these can be minimized in the case of an emerging environmental management system.
