Quarterly update from Save the Med

Marine Protection

Community leadership project ‘Discover Your MPA Sa Dragonera’ In the municipality of Andratx, home to the Marine Protected Area (MPA) of Sa Dragonera, we started the year off by:

• Organising marine regeneration workshops with 100 school students.
• Working with 15 businesses to reduce the use of plastic in their companies.
• Signing a collaboration agreement with the Department of Sustainability and Environment of the Consell de Mallorca for the implementation of awareness projects in the area.
• Becoming part of the the ICTIB Association to work together on marine custody initiatives.
• Developing informative resources, some of which have been shared, others which will be shared very soon!

Follow @xarxadragonerablava on Instagram to stay up to date with activities organised in the municipality!

Tagged turtles Thunderbird and Gloria

While the team has been busy preparing for the 2021 expedition season, both of the tagged turtles we rescued and tagged last summer have been on the move during the last months and the deployed tags have regularly been sending data to IOOS, the multi-platform Integrated Ocean Observation System by ICTS SOCIB.

You can follow their tracks yourself! Visit our social media!

Med Ghost Fad Project

We’d like to congratulate Neus Segura Alemany who wrote and defended her Master Thesis on the topic of turtle entanglements and Ghost FADs in the Mediterranean in collaboration with Save The Med, earning top marks for her important work!

The valuable data from her work has already been shared with the relevant authorities, while the work is in the process of being submitted for an article in a scientific journal.

Plastic Reduction

Dos Manos Schools Programme

During the last three months 430 students participated in the Dos Manos Schools Programme, which is provided in four different versions this school year (Original, Classroom, Virtual, Independent) to provide flexibility in uncertain times.

Another 460 students participated in introductory online workshops on the topics of marine regeneration and how they can get involved!

We’re thrilled to be back on the beach with the students and finally resume data collection on plastic pollution and have a few spots left this semester. To reserve your spot email ana@savethemed.org. Limited availability!

The Changemakers Project

New teams are signing up to the Changemakers Project each week and we can’t wait to see what solutions to plastic pollution they come up with!

Meanwhile, this spring we are going to pilot a new version of the project for students 8-14 years called Changemakers Junior!

Learn all about the two versions by visiting Save The Med’s website! All projects that aim to reduce the use of single use plastics, conducted during the school year 2020/2021 are eligible for the Junior project!

Plastic Free Balearics

In addition to continuing their work with plastic reduction in companies, the development and improvement of the Honest Alternatives to Plastic Index (HAPI), and the development of a joint certification for plastic reduction in collaboration with IbizaPerservation as part of the BeMed call, the team has also organised and/or participated in:

• Two workshops, developed together with the Federation of parents of Mallorca (FAPA), to facilitate single use plastic reduction among the parent associations of Balearic schools.
• Two technical round tables during World Water Day, to discuss tap water quality in Majorca and issues such as the availability of clean drinking water as a human right, the widespread use of bottled water, its impacts on human health and the environment and existing initiatives and recommendations to enable access to clean drinking water for all.
• A participatory meeting organised by CAPIMED who aim to consolidate information from projects supported by BeMed with the aim of identifying problem products, campaigns and ways of working together for the reduction of plastic pollution in the sea.
• A talk organised by ADICAE for the International Day of Consumer Rights about the impacts of plastic and of greenwashing.
• Project presentation during the Monaco Ocean Week in collaboration with BeMed.

The ‘Define Humano’ Campaign

The Define Humano campaign was launched at the end of 2020 to invite citizens to restore our relationship with nature by proposing actions which can lead us towards a more resilient, collaborative society.

The campaign, found at @definehumano on Instagram, sees weekly updates including videos, infographics, quotes and visions of a possible future where humans become a regenerative force on our Planet.

To learn about all other aspects of our work, follow @savethemed on
social media!