SCENARIOS was present at the living lab “Designing strategies for better governance of persistent chemicals in the Black Sea basin” thought the attendance of our colleague Mihaela Mirea from Lomartov. The gathering was held on the 28th and 29th May in Varna, Bulgaria.
The aim of the Living Lab was to identify challenges and approaches for reducing the load of a category of persistent chemicals: per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, in the environment of the Black Sea basin. The Living Lab aimed to generate feasible pathways for reducing PFAS concentrations in rivers and the sea. It is necessary to explore and identify challenges to decrease the existing load of ‘forever chemicals’ in the marine environment. The outcome of the discussions during the Living Lab meeting are thought as a set of criteria and a prioritisation of policies that have the potential to raise awareness of the risks posed by PFAS in the Black Sea basin and ways to reduce their concentrations below safe limits.
The insights coming out of the Living Lab will be used to formulate scenarios to bedeliberated upon in a subsequent session. The outcomes of these two Living Labs will be part of the advice provided to the Commission on reducing pollution in European seas within the Source to Seas – Zero Pollution 2030 project.
24 people participated in the meeting that was dedicated to PFAS pollution in the Black Sea, trying to identify the level of awareness and interest of the stakeholders for this issue. It was a great opportunity to meet a project dealing with the PFAS issue that was not mapped before by our consortium and see how we can work together.
SCENARIOS project was presented with a focus on the technologies developed to mitigate PFAS pollution. The SOSZEROPOL2030 project will have a greater interaction with policy and will prepare a roadmap for PFAS pollution mitigation and a mapping of available technologies where SCENARIOS can contribute.
Next year a new round of Living labs will be organised, in the 3 interested sea basins: Black Sea, Mediterranean Sea and North Sea. It will be important to check where the PFAS issue will be again discussed, since each living lab can have a different main topic. Lomartov will be in contact to add SCENARIOS solutions to the mapping of technologies and to support the roadmap development.
