"Increasing Marine Environ. Awareness Via The Creative Arts"

Coastal and marine environments in the Mediterranean are under constant pressure from various sources, which are interacting together and affecting biodiversity. In Cyprus, the most significant pressures on the marine and coastal environments result from unsustainable coastal development, pollution (e.g., eutrophication, plastic pollution), coastal erosion, overfishing and increasing presence of invasive alien species. Unfortunately, at present, public knowledge and awareness about the marine environment of Cyprus and the threats it is facing is very limited. Environmental education and awareness are known to be the main drivers of public positive perception and attitude toward supporting environmental conservation. Investing in more intense and systematic research in the field of the marine environment of Cyprus and subsequently communicating the knowledge to the public, and especially children is particularly important in order to ensure the long-term effectiveness of nature conservation and management efforts. This project aims to deliver educational, creative workshops both in private and public schools as well as environmental centers, and raise awareness to as many schools and young children as possible regarding some crucial matters which concern our island such as the bycatch of marine vulnerable species, plastic pollution, the poor management of Posidonia oceanica seagrass and the threats and conservation of the Mediterranean monk seal Monachus monachus, to mention a few. The proposed activities seek to actively engage young children (between ages of 3 to 12) and captivate their imagination through music, the visual arts, movement, dance, drama and storytelling. Essentially by increasing the contact of our children with Cyprus’ current marine challenges, leads them to a deeper understanding of how the marine life is essential, how to better comprehend the importance of protecting this planet on which we live and finally, how the ocean and humans are, essentially, inextricably interconnected.

Our eliverables:

-10 workshops “The Blue Conference”: Each group will be creating their own, joined musical composition as well as a group environmental awareness poster carrying a message on the importance of reducing bycatch, the incidental and unintentional capture of vulnerable species in fishing operations, species including sea turtles, cetaceans, seals, seabirds, sharks and rays. At the end of each workshop, all artworks will be photographed in order to create an online gallery.

-10 workshops “Here Only Monachus”: During this workshop the facilitators will be sharing recordings of natural sounds produced by Meditteranean monk seals and an array of melodic and rhythmic musical instruments which the children later used to create their own musical compositions with the utilization of modern music technology. Each group will be creating their own, joined musical composition which then the facilitators will be sending via email to all the children’s schools and parents. At the end of the year, all the compositions will be shared once again online for the public to enjoy and can be accompanied by the children’s artwork which will also be produced during the workshops.

-2 puppet shows entitled “Poseidon’s Grievance”, a show which tackles the crucial topic of the poor management of Posidonia oceanica seagrass.

This endorsement to the charter was promoted by the BlueMissionMed CSA.