The aim of SCOW, funded by the ENPI CBCMED Programme, is to develop low cost, technically simple and high quality biowaste collection and recycling models in territories with touristic areas and agricultural activity. SCOW wants to build up a sustainable, innovative and local treatment of the biowaste in decentralized small-scale composting plants, developed essentially in agricultural holdings situated near the biowaste production areas in the partners’ territories.
It will contribute to improve general waste management, closing the cycle of the organic matter in countries with an important lack of organic carbon at soil. It will also help to improve land structure and fertility, reducing desertification (applying compost to soils), global warming (avoiding the entrance of biodegradable materials to landfills and capturing carbon in soil) and landfilling capacity needs (reducing waste entrance). In addition, it will create new economic activity, even at waste collection and treatment sectors and compost selling. The experience would be able to be reproduced in other Mediterranean zones, reducing impacts at source, through a simple management of the biowaste collection and treatment with the idea of self-sufficiency.
Projects
The project has as main objectives, the development of a permanent collaboration of archaeological open-air museums (AOAMs), raising quality standards among participants and improving the visitors experience across Europe in this category of museums.
These objectives aim to be achieved through three concepts: conference and workshops, staff exchanges and experimental actions.
The project aims at fighting social exclusion and poverty through improving the governance process for local development by promoting social and intercultural dialogue in the urban and peri-urban areas in the involved cities; Al-Balqa (Jordan), Rome (Italy), Mahdia (Tunisia), Barcellona (Spain).The project will implement a governance system to create a dialogue through formal organizational structures set-up between the public, 67 NGO /Associations, and private citizens in the realm of UPA. Social exclusion will find an answer in social and intercultural dialogue as an avenue towards the resolution of poverty's consequences. Groups at risk of exclusion will be provided with opportunities to render them self sufficient through urban and peri-urban agricultural (UPA) activities. The products from the agricultural process will be brought to the local organic Farmer's Market in all territories.
The agglomerations of the southern and eastern Mediterranean are facing a rapid increase in their population and a sprawl of their urbanization. The increase in the number and distances of trips may ultimately have negative consequences on the environment, especially as local authorities do not always have the technical means to plan the development of cities in a sustainable manner. It is therefore essential that local authorities equip themselves with the necessary expertise to face the current challenges in terms of urban mobility. In this context, the RAMUD project intends to promote the exchange of good practices in the field of transport policies, thus helping to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
The countries of the Mediterranean area face the same specific energy reality: the increase in the energy price and the weakness of the electrical grid (impossibility of having increase in the power supply, interruptions, etc.), which reduces the security of supply in critical facilities such as hospital and schools as well as the proper development of the small and medium size industries. These problems are common to the target countries of MED-Solar project (Lebanon, Jordan and Palestine) where all the population is actually connected to the grid, but with scarce quality and regular interruptions and cuts-off. Instead of using exclusively polluting and expensive fuel generators against electricity interruption, the project proposes to provide the generators with a solar photovoltaic system for energy backup. With the achievement of MED-Solar the energy situation in the three target countries will improve by reducing energy costs, decreasing the dependence on imported fuel and improving the security of supply through the use of clean energy resources.
The RELS project seeks to improve energy performance in social dwellings. A model for energy renovation - which includes a common methodology for audit, measure selection, implementation and performance validation - was developed by the partners and tested in 7 pilot buildings located in Tunisia, Italy and Spain. Works carried out on selected buildings concern thermal insulation (replacement of windows and better external walls insulation for instance), installation of photovoltaic panels or use of LED/CFL light bulbs. Overall, efficiency measures are expected to cut emissions of greenhouse gases and energy consumption in pilot buildings by 20%. By encouraging better efficiency in the housing stock of the Mediterranean area, partners of the RELS project hopes that energy savings will begin at home.
Cités Unies France has set up the support system for local authorities - DCOL, in order to provide the necessary engineering to enable them to perpetuate, amplify and legitimize their commitment to international action. This system, launched in September 2018, therefore provides communities with expertise for developing an international strategy or for supporting the implementation of an international cooperation project. It is financially supported by AFD and the Caisse des Dépôts.
It aims to strengthen the quality of the approaches and projects of communities linked to the international scene through support for engineering.