Climate-Smart Coastal Practices for Blue governance (BLUECOAST)

BLUECOAST involves the cooperation of Greece and Albania to implement actions for the conservation of some of the most important habitats of the loggerhead sea turtle Caretta caretta in the Mediterranean, in Zakynthos island (Greece) and the Himara Municipality (Albania).

BLUECOAST objective is to provide applicable plans and pro-active methods based on long-term conservation goals and climate change adaptation policy in order to increase C. caretta ecosystem resilience. It addresses the major pressures at land and sea, driven by human activities and climate change by integrating habitats resilience into the broader regional socioeconomic development.

Project outputs include:

1. implementation of a new monitoring solution of combined techniques for biotic & abiotic parameters, for day/night data, in order to increase the efficiency in short and long-term conservation monitoring.
2. production of policy-related scientific data for a deeper insight into blue governance and the pilot implementation of pro-active Climate-Smart initiatives including small nature-based works to selected beaches.
3. establishment of a cross-border Observatory and the engagement of local communities/authorities (with focus on key-target groups i.e. fishermen) for the long-term sustainability and successful implementation of the management plans.