MARLISCO “MARine Litter in Europe Seas: Social AwarenesS and CO-Responsibility” is an FP7 Science-in-Society project, which aims to provide a series of mechanisms for bringing key stakeholders for marine litter together. The project raises awareness about the consequences of societal behavior in relation to waste production and management on marine socio-ecological systems, promotes co-responsibility, defines a more sustainable collective vision and facilitates grounds for concerted actions.
MARLISCO seeks to raise societal awareness of both the problems and the potential solutions relating to a key issue threatening marine habitats worldwide; the accumulation of marine litter. A major objective of the project is to understand and subsequently facilitate societal engagement in order to inspire changes in attitudes and behavior. 15 European countries are involved in the partnership. MARLISCO will develop and evaluate an approach that can be used to address the problems associated with marine litter and which can also be applied more widely to other societal challenges. ISOTECH ltd is a Lead Partner, responsible for the implementation of the project’s activities in Cyprus. The main objective of the MARLISCO project is to increase the awareness of the consequences of societal behaviour in relation to waste production and management on marine socio-ecological systems, to promote co-responsibility among the different actors, to define a more sustainable collective vision, and facilitate grounds for concerted actions through the successful implementation of the MMLAP. The project, in developing its activities until mid 2015, will provide a series of mechanisms to engage and empower key stakeholders and awareness activities which will be tailored appropriately to the targeting sector. This will be achieved by organising activities across 15 European countries, including national debates in 12 of them, involving industry sectors, scientists and the public; a European video contest for school students; educational activities and tools targeting the younger generation; and exhibitions to raise awareness among the wider public. MARLISCO will make use of innovative multimedia approaches to reach the widest possible audience, in the most effective manner. The project will develop and evaluate approaches that can be used to address the problems associated with marine litter and which can also be applied more widely to other societal challenges where there are substantial benefits to be achieved through better integration among researchers, stakeholders and society.