On Wednesday, November 15, 2023, all the actions implemented within the BLACK SEA CBC COPREVENT project “Cooperation for Disaster Prevention and Environmental Monitoring in the Black Sea Basin” were presented at the final local conference, hosted in CERTH (Hellenic Center for Research and Technology).
The CO-PREVENT project, which is funded by the territorial cooperation program “Black Sea Basin ENI CBC 2014-2020”, concerns the prevention of natural disasters and protection from the effects of climate change in the Black Sea Basin with the participation of actors from Turkey, Bulgaria, Moldova and Greece. ANATOLIKI SA is a partner in the Project with a study area of the hydrological basin of the rivers Axios and Gallikos in the area of the Municipality of Delta, which is a collaborating partner in the Project.
At the start of the event, Ms. Vasso Papadopoulou, Director of Planning & Sustainable Development, ANATOLIKI SA, gave an account of the two-year duration of the project. The final contribution of the project to the cooperation of the 4 partner countries is the implementation of a common electronic platform, with a recording of all the points where flood and fire prevention stations were installed and display of the measurements with free access for all interested parties.
Then, the Regional Climate Change Adaptation Plan was presented by Ms. Panagiota Rakibei (Directorate of Environment, Industry, Energy and Natural Resources of the Region of Central Macedonia), starting from the short-term to the long-term vulnerability scenarios of RCM by sector and ending with the measures to deal with the risks, based on an action plan.
Ms. Anastasia Moumtzidou from CERTH Informatics and Telematics Institute presented early warning systems for water quality and quantity problems, based mainly on satellite monitoring, to monitor drinking water and control flood risks.
Mr. Dimitris Kouvas, CTO/CMO Co-founder of ScienAct S.A., presented the 5 telemetry stations for water level and supply, which were installed in the rivers Axios and Gallikos, with funding from the COPREVENT project. ScienAct was the contractor of ANATOLIKI in the project and responsible for the installation and operation of the 5 stations, until the project is completed and the stations are handed over to the Municipality of Delta.
This was followed by the presentation of a good practice from the side of the Local Administration, and specifically from the Municipality of Pylaia – Hortiatis, where the Deputy Mayor of Cleanliness, Recycling and Environment, Mr. Yiannis Kartalis, presented the use of drones within the boundaries of the Municipality to monitor fires in the 3 forest areas its areas, as well as for the supervision of reckless disposal of bulky waste in places not demarcated for this use in the Municipality.
After the completion of the presentations, a discussion followed, with the participation of civil protection experts and volunteers, who participated in project trainings in Burgas and Istanbul. Mr. Stelios Tamvakidis (Head of the Civil Protection Directorate of the Decentralized Administration of Macedonia & Thrace), Deputy Fire Chief Argyris Regas (2nd EMODE, Hellenic Fire Service), Mr. Antonis Papadogiannis (Head of the Department of Civil Protection of the Municipality of Delta) and Mr. Giorgos Makavos (a volunteer rescuer of PROTEKTA Thessaloniki) conveyed to the public the experiences they gained from their cross-border trainings in collaboration with their colleagues from Bulgaria, Moldova and Turkey. They pointed out the benefit and added value of such transnational collaborations, after the transfer and utilization of good practices in their services and the relationships created between the experts of the 4 partner countries of the project. The sustainability and operation of the 5 telemetry stations by the Delta Municipality after the completion of the project was also a matter of discussion.
The audience actively participated throughout the conference, as the topic of Civil Protection and natural disaster response is topical and of interest to those involved and not.
The event was welcomed by the Deputy Regional Governor for Development & Environment of the P.K.M., Mr. Kostas Youtikas, the Head of the Department of Civil Protection of the Decentralized Administration of Macedonia & Thrace, Mr. Stelios Tamvakidis, the Head of the Department of Civil Protection of the Municipality of Delta, Mr. Antonis Papadogiannis and the President of ANATOLIKI SA, Mr. Sokratis Samaras.
For more information about the project, visit the official website of ANTOLIKI S.A. as well as the project website.
