On 24 September 2021 the Secretary-General of the Hellenic Ministry of Environment and Energy Konstantinos Aravossis and UNEP/MAP Coordinator Tatjana Hema met with Lefteris Arapakis, the UNEP Young Champion of the Earth for Europe (2020). The meeting took place on the premises of Enaleia, a social enterprise that Mr. Arapakis co-founded. It was followed by a visit to the fish market of Keratsini, one of several sites in Greece and elsewhere in the Mediterranean basin where Enaleia works with fishers on fishing for plastic. The visitors were presented with samples of by-catch plastic items brought on shore for recycling instead of being thrown back into the sea.
According to its co-founder, Enaleia is a non-profit social enterprise that combines action against plastic pollution of the marine environment with education within fishing communities. “Our mission is to make the marine ecosystem sustainable by tackling both overfishing and plastic pollution,” Mr. Arapakis told the visitors.
Mr. Aravossis praised Mr. Arapakis’s achievements as an example of action by the youth in support of efforts to meet the challenge of pollution in the Mediterranean. He also congratulated him on his recent selection as the Ambassador for the Mediterranean Coast for 2021-2022 (the official announcement was made two days later during an event marking Mediterranean Coast Day, which Mr. Aravossis attended).
The UNEP/MAP Coordinator also congratulated Mr. Arapakis noting that the prestigious title of Ambassador for the Mediterranean Coast comes with responsibilities. “I am confident that you will be an excellent Ambassador for the Mediterranean Coast who will encourage youth in our region to contribute to the protection of the marine and coastal environment, including through voluntary action”.
In Keratsini, where the fish market is located on the docks of the local port, the visiting delegations saw a peculiar catch: an array of plastic items of sundry shapes and sizes that fishers have caught in their net and brought back to the shore. Enaleia has put in place a value-chain whereby plastic litter is recycled into high-quality clothing, among other products.
One fisher said that their intervention has generated a marked decrease in plastic litter in the fishing zones. Another pledged wholehearted support to Mr. Arapakis’s initiative. “We will remove every single piece of plastic we can get our hands on,” the fisher told the visitors as a blue flag reading “I clean the sea” in Greek floated atop a vessel in the background.
Ms. Hema invited Mr. Arapakis to discuss with UNEP/MAP technical teams avenues for collaboration in the field of marine litter data harvesting, among other fields of common interest. She mentioned "fishing-for-litter"— a pilot launched by UNEP/MAP to encourage fishers to participate in sea clean-ups on a voluntary basis—as an example of the areas where Mr. Arapakis’s experience would be useful in enhancing and upscaling activities involving communities.
During the visit, Mr. Aravossis and Ms. Hema discussed bilateral cooperation. Greece, the Host Country of the UNEP/MAP Coordinating Unit, supports the organization’s endeavour for healthy and productive Mediterranean ecosystems in the context of sustainable development.
On 27 September 2021 Mr. Aravossis represented Greece, the Host of the 2021 edition of Mediterranean Coast Day, in an online event organized by PAP/RAC and entitled: “Time to draw a line in the sand – a reflection for healthier Mediterranean coasts”.
