Onshore ‘litter’ sources account for around 80% of marine litter. Adding the abandonment of wastes, where natural areas are increasingly damaged, is a number that poses a serious threat to ecosystems. The LIBERA project, created by SEO/BirdLife in partnership with Ecoembes, is launching a new version of the ‘Rural areas, 1m2 for forests’ campaign, recognizing the importance of developing actions to help prevent the effects of litter and raise awareness in society. and the mountains that will take place between them 3 – 11 December.
In 2021, more than 5,500 volunteers removed 8.5 tons of waste at 346 locations across the country.
This sixth of the citizen science campaign coincides with International Mountain Day, celebrated on December 11. en campo, montes y bosques aims to help participating groups and volunteers clear these environments of garbage. and then characterize to analyze both the type and volume of the abandoned waste.
In addition, this initiative aims to help the population learn more about the impact of litter on natural terrestrial areas. In this way project RELEASE invites any organisation, association or entity to participate, Register by 27 November and create your score, Via the website proyectolibera.org.
Participating groups will use the ‘eLitter’ mobile application, a leading tool in waste characterization. It was developed by the Vertidos Cero and Paisaje Limpio associations in cooperation with LIBERA in inland ecosystems. Therefore, the collected data will be included in the database of the Ministry of Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge (MITECO) and added to the predefined objects that LIBERA collects in the ‘Trash Barometer’.
“Garbage is a global problem and environmental education is one of the best tools to destroy it”
In the latest edition of ‘1m’two In the cleaning and data collection days carried out at 346 points across the country with the cooperation of more than 5,500 volunteers, we will avoid the countryside, forest, mountain., a total of 8.5 tons of garbage were analyzed. well 67,616 objects In the 2021 campaign, plastic parts smaller than 2.5 cm were categorized as cigarette butts and beverage cans, with the most common waste.
“Garbage is a global problem and environmental education is one of the best tools to eradicate it. “There’s no better way to say loudly and clearly that we don’t want any more waste left in our fields than to put on our gloves and go out into the field to unleash and increase scientific knowledge about this problem,” says coordinator Miguel Muñoz. At SEO/BirdLife of Project LIBERA.
“At LIBERA, our aim is to raise public awareness of the impact of litter in terrestrial environments, as this waste makes up 80% of marine litter. In celebration of the sixth edition of ‘1 m2 for countryside, forests and mountains’, our project seeks further education and information on the impact of litter on these natural areas, thanks to the commitment of participating groups and associations. proper characterization of waste in order to carry out awareness-raising activities for our fields”, Adds Sara Güemes, coordinator of the LIBERA Project at Ecoembes.
With this call, LIBERA closes its last civic science campaign of the year After the ‘1m celebrationstwo In the last month of September, more than 7 tons of garbage was collected by the beaches and seas. Characterize around 46,000 objects thanks to more than 6,000 volunteers collaborating on the Spanish coast.
LIBERA: a project to involve the community
‘LIBERA’ is a project created by SEO/BirdLife in collaboration with Ecoembes. Its purpose is to raise awareness and mobilize citizens. to declutter natural areas.
For this, the program proposes solutions on the axes of knowledge, prevention and participation. minimize your environmental impact. Through these actions, it works to contribute to the achievement of SDGs 4, 13, 14, 15 and 17.
LIBERA has mobilized more than 1,000 people since its launch. 100,000 volunteersand collaborating with nearly 2,000 organizations and groups, including CSIC, Queen Sofia Foundation, DGT, Paisaje Limpio or Vertidos Cero, it has become a pioneering project aimed at raising awareness among all audiences. In addition, through the eLitter, MARNOBA and BASURALEZA applications, volunteers have collected more than 670,000 objects from more than 5,000 points on national territory and integrated into the MITECO database.
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Contact address of the environment department: [email protected]