Ecomarine

Building a Comprehensive Mechanism for Preserving Marine Ecosystems and Life from the negative consequences of Climate Change and the disposal of Plastic Debris

ECOMARINE’s main aim is the protection of marine life from pressures imposed by climate change, plastic marine debris, overexploitation of the fish stocks, as well as the human-induced destruction of marine habitats by the installation of four new, state of the art Marine Monitoring Labs in India and Malaysia

What is the ECOMARINE project about?

The main goal of the ECOMARINE project is to improve the management and operation of marine conservation monitoring labs of the four Higher Education Institutions in Malaysia and India. The utmost target is to upgrade the university services offered to students, staff and society, as they cover a wide area of geographical oceanic environment. This will be done through an in-depth capacity building and knowledge exchange programme targeted at staff, scientists and other relevant stakeholders in Malaysia and India.

Throughout its 3 years duration ECOMARINE will:

Conduct in depth desk and field research on the specific needs of the marine monitoring systems, as well as the local, national and regional contexts in Malaysia and India

Develop and design a comprehensive training programme, together with an online platform, covering both theory of marine science and and field-based activities

Organise a large-scale, capacity building programme, targeted at the four Asian Universities. The first phase will take place in Europe with theory workshops, study visits and field -based activities at sea. The second phase will take place at the national level in Malaysia and India.

Set up of 4 new, state of the art Marine Monitoring Labs (one in each University from Malaysia and India), ensuring efficient long-term marine monitoring from the trained staff

The project partners of the consortium come from Cyprus, Spain, Malaysia, India, Greece, Germany:

Main target groups

– Higher Education Institutions in Malaysia and India

– Private and Public marine and biology research institutes and NGOs in the marine conservation sector

– Education policy and decision makers at national level (such as Ministries), as well as other stakeholders (researchers / environmentalists, marine professionals)

– Marine conservation, Biologist and Environmental protection students (current, prospective and graduates) in Malaysian and Indian Universities

– Academic professionals & administrative staff working in the targeted HEIs

Expected Results

Establishment of new advanced and updated marine monitoring labs aligned to each institution needs
Better academic performance through participation in new joint research activities in marine conservation.
Improvement of staff performance through knowledge transfer by EU institutes
Modernisation of international relations services through upgrade services and equipment
Higher international ranking of the HEIs, due to better performance in terms of research activities.
Enhanced capacity building activities at a regional and national level via the trained staff in the marine monitoring labs
Newly developed operation protocols for each of the 4 Marine Monitoring Labs
Increased marine field research skills and competences of students and educational staff of the Asian HEIs
Increased awareness in environmental and climate change