A mission with multiple messages!!

We headed to Leukada island with the intention of introducing ourselves and our conservation and clean up ideas to the local community. We were happily surprised, however, to find that it felt more like a reunion of like minds!

We met a Mayor that is a paragon for the rest of Greece, a fishing community that was fully sensitized and active, a dive community that was dedicated, interested, and generous enough to support us the whole day, and a committed and capable civil society, ready to solve the environmental concerns in the area. And we are happy that France 3 was there to capture such atmosphere!

All together it was an incredibly productive day. Underwater and coastal clean ups, research activities, assessment dives under the landfill of the island and informative consultations with a broad participation of key stakeholders and individuals.

We were therefore able to come up with a number of concrete outcomes: a significant quantity of marine litter collected and classified, an investigation and clear objectives about maintaining the integrity of the landfill and preventing waste contamination, and clear steps and responsibilities towards setting up the next Marine Litter Station – the first in the Ionian islands!

More importantly, though, we made great friends and saw the incredible power of what can happen when groups who believe in environmental democracy take action together!