PROMPT’s Potential Added-value in Countries Involved and Pilot Sites
Have you ever wondered about the added-value pledged by PROMPT in countries of intervention!!!
Here are the answers! There are five(5) Countries involved in the project namely: Italy, Spain, and Luxembourg as EU countries, and Lebanon, Jordan as non-eu countries/neighbouring EU countries. It has been planned to focus the attention of the project mainly on two pilot sites placed in the neighbourhood countries and in the area around the Port of Tripoli (Lebanon) and in the Gulf of Aqaba, Jordan. An extension of some of the modelling and ICT tools will be implemented as well for the area surrounding the port of Genoa as one of the most important ports in the Mediterranean Sea.
The above choices have been driven by several reasons. Firstly, research partners such as FIHAC, UNIGE and PM_TEN from (Spain and Italy) have a strong experience in management of marine pollution and contaminant dispersion in the air that brought them to an internationally recognized position in the scientific community. FIHAC for example put into practice their research achievements leading to the preparation of several operational tools applied in the North Atlantic. Moreover, recent projects where Italian partners are involved (GEREMIA, SPLASH!, SINAPSI, SPLASH&CO, AIRNOSTRUM, ISYPORT belonging to Interreg Program Italia-Francia Marittimo and Italian PON-MIUR) are focussed on similar topics, i.e. addressing issues related to water and air quality and pollution in harbour areas. Regarding Lebanon and Jordan, the sites identified are of particular interest. The involvement of WASDI from Luxembourg stemmed from the technological development of detection and tracking algorithms from satellite images which is the only country without any outlet to the sea.
The port of Tripoli is considered one of the most important ports of the eastern basin of the Mediterranean Sea. New quays have been built in response to the increasing demands of transport of goods. Updated forecasts of the port activity predict a doubled traffic by 2028. It is already known that occasional minor oil spill within Tripoli Oil Terminal located 3km north of the port continue to take place and quite recently the harbour suffered a powerful explosion that released in the air contaminants and dust that spread all over the area of the city. Moreover, few km to the west of Tripoli lays a network of small islands treated as a wildlife refuge.
Similar arguments are valid for the port of Aqaba (Jordan). The Gulf of Aqaba as part of the Red Sea is scientifically and globally recognized for its great diversity of marine and coastal environments, the high percentage of its unique and endemic species, and the importance of its marine resources to the social and economic development of the region. Activities of the project will be then coordinated with the local partners OEPT for Lebanon and SBMS for Jordan.
In this delicate context, the effort is to promote the development of the ports in the EU and neighbouring countries while increasing the capacity in terms of risk prevention and preparedness as mandatory endeavors. PROMPT project will represent a perfect opportunity to implement and develop a high-tech ICT operational tool and immediately test it in different environmentally sensitive areas to ultimately curb marine chemical spills pollution in the Mediterranean sea. The interest of the neighbouring countries is further demonstrated by their participation to previous European cooperation project on similar topics and their involvement in the DG-ECHO BE-READY project.
In conclusion, PROMPT is composed of five(5) different countries of intervention namely: Italy, Spain, Luxembourg, Lebanon and Jordan. These countries and partners were selected on the basis of their vast experience in the project related subjects and their degree of port’s vulnerability to maritime activities threats and marine pollution along the EU Mediterranean sea and neighbouring countries. PROMPT project will represent a perfect opportunity to implement and develop a high-tech ICT operational tool and immediately test it in different environmentally sensitive areas to ultimately curb marine chemical spills pollution in the Mediterranean sea.. The interest of the neighbouring countries is further demonstrated by their participation to previous European cooperation project on similar topics and their involvement in the DG-ECHO BE-READY project.