On December 12 and 13, 2024, the presentation of the projects approved in the first call of the Interreg MAC 2021-2027 Program took place at the Pestana Hotel in Sao Tome, with the participation of entities from Sao Tome and Principe.
The event was organized within the framework of the ATLANTE strategic project, an initiative led by the Directorate General for European Affairs and External Cooperation of the Government of the Azores, which aims to strengthen governance and territorial cooperation in the Interreg MAC 2021-2027 Program.
During the day of the 12th, the 15 projects selected in the Green MAC and Smart MAC priorities, all of them with Santo Tomás partners, were announced. The event was attended by institutional representatives of the European Commission, the Portuguese Embassy, the Spanish Consulate and senior officials from the governments of Sao Tome and Principe, the Canary Islands, the Azores and Madeira.
The ECOMARIS project was presented through video presentations by Ricardo Haroun, director of the ECOAQUA University Institute of the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (ULPGC), the project coordinator, and Isabel Miranda, representative of the Association of Friends of the Biosphere Reserve of the Island of Príncipe (AARBIP), the project's local partner.
Both speakers highlighted ECOMARIS' mission to foster ocean culture and promote cooperation between science, civil society, public administrations and the private sector to move towards a more sustainable management of marine and coastal ecosystems in the Macaronesian region.
Isabel Miranda on behalf of AARBIP, ECOMARIS partner in Principe Island (Sao Tome and Principe).