Tunis/Tunisia — BeMed, an association that combats plastic pollution in the Mediterranean, is launching on the occasion of World Sea Day its 2021 call for micro-initiatives targeting actions that strive to curve plastic pollution in the Mediterranean region.
NGOs, territorial authorities, municipalities, small and medium sized enterprises, scientific institutions from every country in the Mediterranean region with a priority to the following countries: Albania, Algeria, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Egypt, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Montenegro, the Palestinian Territories, Tunisia, Turkey, Cyprus, Croatia, Malta and Greece, are the eligible stakeholders.
BeMed’s will contribute up to a maximum of 10,00 euros for each micro-initiative which will start from June 2022 and lasts between 12 and 18 months maximum.
The call is open until the 2nd of January 2022.
This call is supported by the Didier et Martine Primat Foundation and the Aether Fund of the Foundation for Future Generations.
Applications can be downloaded from the BeMed website (www.beyondplasticmed.org).
Tunisia discharges 8.5 thousand tons of plastic waste into the Mediterranean every year, i.e. 20% of the total plastic waste dumped there. The national economy loses about 20 million dollars a year due to plastic pollution, according to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) report entitled «Let’s stop the plastic torrent,» published in 2019.
Although its plastic products industry is small compared to other Mediterranean countries, Tunisia is the 4th largest consumer of plastic products per capita in the region. This waste mainly affects the tourism, shipping and fishing sectors.
The Mediterranean Sea is an almost completely enclosed sea that stretches over 2.5 million square kilometres between the coasts of Southern Europe, North Africa and Asia. Representing only 0.7% of the world’s ocean surface, it is nevertheless one of the major reservoirs of marine and coastal biodiversity.
However, because of its geography, the intensity of maritime transport, fishing and the industrial and tourist activities that it concentrates, the Mediterranean Sea is particularly sensitive to plastic pollution. With 1 to 10 million plastic particles per square kilometre, it is the most polluted sea in the world.
In response to this situation, BeMed has been working for more than 5 years with local actors to reduce this pollution and protect the Mediterranean. With 69 projects supported to date in 14 Mediterranean countries, BeMed has established a network of actors whose experience and good practices will feed the next selected actions.