EVENT INAGURATING THE START OF WORK ON A NEW APPLICATION FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT AND USE OF WATER RESOURCES

On 18 and 19 April, the kick-off meeting of the partners of the Interreg South Baltic seed project SB SeaMan took place in Naturum Kristianstand, Sweden. The trilateral partnership is made up of organisations from Poland, Sweden and Lithuania, among others: Association of Polish Communes Euroregion Baltic, which is also the project leader, Non-public Educational Institution Academy of Water Sports "Grupa" Marcin Trudnowski, Elbląg Sea Port Authority Ltd., Sport club for Klaipeda city kids and Olympic sailing "Zalgiris", and Kristianstad Municipality, Naturum Vattenriket.

The event was a hybrid meeting combined with practical activities and a study visit, providing an introduction to the future challenge of preparing a future regular project proposal.

On the first day, each participant made a presentation of their organisations and how they could contribute to the project. After the presentation part, the group travelled by bus from the main educational facility, Naturum, to the beach near Åhus. The hosts provided some very interesting and educational activities, related to marine education, during which there was an opportunity to actively learn about the diverse and rich flora and fauna in the Baltic Sea. It was also an opportunity to learn about some of the day-to-day work of the scientists at Naturum Vattenriket - a unique, innovative, nature-related site focused on promoting the link between civilisation and nature. At Naturum's headquarters, located within the Vattenriket Biosphere Reserve, visitors can see interesting exhibits related to the reserve's characteristic species of birds, fish and other small animals. Visitors to the centre can take part in various activities, feast their eyes on the beautiful views and sit down for a coffee, or take a short trip in a 'submarine'. It is also possible to go for a walk along the route prepared for tourists.

On the second day, during the workshop, the partners wrote down all their ideas for innovative solutions to improve and make more attractive the water offer in the region, in order to make the most of the potential in the water sector, in terms of education, awareness raising and sustainable tourism. Strategic assumptions for achieving the project goals would include the creation of a network of leaders to develop awareness of sustainable development and the use of water resources in a broader sense.

The partners want to focus on building a relationship with nature, introducing practical solutions in areas such as recreation and leisure. There would also be better tools to improve the management of water resources and to raise public awareness in these areas. An important aspect of the cooperation would also be the promotion of good practices, sharing experiences with each other in order to enrich the public's knowledge and experience in correlation with nature. 

During the work also raised a number of questions related to specific actions and issues to be analysed in order to make future solutions as optimal as possible and serve the public, but also take care of our natural water resources.  Further meetings have been scheduled to develop a aimed at developing a common track of partners' activities in the implementation of the next stages of the project.