“S.E.A.” (SAVE, EMBRACE, ACHIEVE) is the name of the action carried out by an informal group of citizens from Rijeka in cooperation with and with the financial support of the Rotary Club Rijeka Novi val.
The initiative is designed to raise awareness of the need to change attitudes towards the environment, especially the marine environment. The focus is on the disposal of plastics and microplastics with the promotion of the application of the latest smart and green methods, practices and technologies for better treatment of the environment and the use of its resources.
Throughout all planned activities, emphasis was placed on addressing the general environmental crisis. The initiative was implemented through a series of lectures and workshops on the protection of the marine environment from various wastes, especially plastics.
The initiative was launched in May 2019, by raising funds to procure Seabin devices. Procurement of devices is an important step forward to encourage society to implement a number of innovative technical solutions. The Seabin device enables the collection and thus analysis of various waste floating on the sea. This is why it is also becoming part of a comprehensive microplastics database system. This innovative device is a daily reminder of how necessary it is to protect the environment.
The device was handed over to the Rijeka Port Authority for care and management, and it is located on a pontoon next to the terminal in the Port of Rijeka.
On Friday, 23.10.2020. at 19:00 via the Microsoft Teams platform Rotary club Rijeka Novi val organized an e-lecture by prof. dr. sc. Axel Luttenberger (Faculty of Maritime Studies, University of Rijeka). The topic of the lecture is “Legal framework for marine litter from the point of view of the circular economy”.
Professor Luttenberger briefly described his lecture: Large amounts of marine litter turn the sea into the largest landfill, causing environmental, economic, public and aesthetic problems. International sources of law governing marine litter are uneven and overlapping. For this reason, the role of the state and public authorities is significant, as environmental issues are a public interest that is often in conflict with private interests. For legal norms in general, and environmental norms in particular, their application is important. When the government does not have the ability to implement them – through empowerment, participation of all parties, education or otherwise – environmental law will not only not be effective, but also become counterproductive. The presentation analyzes the legal sources of the ecosystem approach to the protection and preservation of the marine environment and the new challenges of marine waste regulation based on the principles of a circular economy focused on preserving resources, the environment and increasing employability.
About the lecturer:
Prof. dr. sc. Axel Luttenberger is a full professor at the Faculty of Maritime Studies, University of Rijeka and a former mayor of Opatija and a former member of parliament. He has a rich academic career behind him with numerous published scientific papers on the topic of environmental protection.
