On 7 March, the Regional Directorate for Sea Affairs, a LIFE IP AZORES NATURA project’s associative beneficiary, joined a group of French students from VetAgro Sup to present the works being carried out in the Azores regarding sustainable development and anthropogenic impacts on marine species and ecosystems on which humanity depends.

VetAgro Sup is an institution for higher education and research that promotes research and education programs focused on global health, addressing issues at the intersection of human, animal, and environmental health.

The event took place in collaboration with the Centro de Ciência Viva – ExpoLab, which provided its facilities and also presented its marine-themed projects, namely on Marine Litter.

Once the presentations were finished, an debate followed where the students were able to questioned the processes that have allowed, in all the islands of the region, the involvement of more than 3 thousand volunteers in about 150 marine litter clean-up events (coastal and underwater), within the action C10.1 – Minimizing marine litter impact in marine coastal habitat, which aims at promoting clean-up action inside the areas of the Natura 2000 network.

The students also showed a particular interest in better understanding how funding for marine environmental conservation can be captured and managed.