March 2018 - LIFE AMMOS

Α) Identity of the project

Description/Aim

LIFE AMMOS project aimed at the prevention and reduction of smoking related litter on beaches. Taking into account the intensity and extent of the occurrence of the specific litter items on Greek beaches, it becomes imperative to change public behavior (smokers and non-smokers), as well as to develop the necessary infrastructure and tools to abate this problem.

At the same time, the project sought to increase citizens’ awareness and understanding of marine pollution in general through the development and implementation of an integrated information campaign that is based on the combined use of digital communication technologies and traditional media.

Β) Good practices

To  meet  its  objectives,  the  consortium  has  implemented  an  integrated  information campaign based  on  the  combined  use  of  digital  communication  technologies  and  traditional  media. During  its  nearly  two-year  life  cycle,  the  LIFE  AMMOS  Project developed  a  series  of  innovative tools, which:

• contributed to the implementation of a campaign at both the national and the local level (15 beaches).

• made possible the systematic recording and monitoring of smoking-related litter in studied beaches,  which  was  of  major  importance  for  the  evaluation  of  the  project impact on the environmental problem targeted.

Under the context of the LIFE AMMOS Project, the mobile application “Ammos” has been developed by TERRA NOVA Ltd., which is available for download in the electronic stores App Store and Google Play. The App Backend (Database of beaches) has been extended to around 2.500 beaches.

The Do It Yourself campaign encouraged citizens to replicate the on-site activities of the LIFE AMMOS Project and organize their own voluntary campaign, using the tools and methods that have been developed during the Project’s implementation. Using these tools, 4 parallel voluntary actions have been implemented, with the participation of a total of 72 students.

C) Results

During its lifetime, LIFE AMMOS Project developed a series of innovative tools, which contributed to the implementation of an integrated information campaign at the national and local levels and made possible the systematic recording and monitoring of smoking-related litter in the participating beaches, which was of major importance for the evaluation of the project impact on the environmental problem targeted.

More specifically:

• Intensive use of Internet and social media (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Google+).
• Dissemination to local and national media.
• Development of an integrated cigarette butt monitoring system for the beaches.
• Operation of info-kiosks in all of the 15 selected beaches, with specially trained staff during the summer period May-September 2014.
• Development of partnerships with 155 local stakeholders through the creation of Regional Advisory Committees, including representatives of the local government, coastal SMEs, the educational community, environmental and cultural organizations, etc.
• Implementation of a qualitative survey based on the focus group method and of a quantitative survey based on the use of a structured questionnaire. The surveys aimed at the recording of the smokers’ behaviour towards littering.
• Systematic measurement of cigarette butts’ levels in the pilot areas during 5 sampling periods.
• Design and use of the “Ammos” mobile application (App Store and Google Play).
• Promotion of parallel voluntary actions via the Do It Yourself platform, which hosts all tools and instruments developed during the implementation of the LIFE AMMOS Project.
• Development of an Integrated Environmental Education Package entitled “Marine litter – The human footprint on coasts and seas“.
• Delivery of educational presentations to more than 5.000 students in Attiki, Thessaloniki and Patras.
• Participation in 8 training seminars for teachers and implementation of 5 workshops, in collaboration with the School Activities Managers and the Heads of Environmental Education at the Directorates of Primary and Secondary Education.

The aforementioned coordinated actions, which were implemented during the 2014 summer period, as well as the preparatory actions, seem to have contributed to a significant and measurable reduction of smoking-related litter in the Project’s study areas/ beaches. According to the results for 13 out of the 15 beaches, over a 1-year period (September/ October 2013 – September/ October 2014), the litter load has been reduced by 66.9%, while the reduction rate/ beach is between 18.5% and 90.1%.