Description (EN): The problematics of the regional pollution in Black Sea Basin is very complex, and the spectrum of toxic substances which exist in related environmental compartments and affect the living organisms, population and ecosystem services is very large and is continuously increasing. Pollution inputs from point and diffuse sources have radically changed the transboundary aquatic ecosystems in the BSB (Romania, Moldova and Greece). The in-depth study of processes occurring in large, interconnected, river basins, and evaluation of people exposure to toxics can be accomplished only in partnership, through cooperation based on knowledge, exchange of good practices and interdisciplinary research, conducted only in transnational networks. Project is aiming at enhancing regional cross-border cooperation to improve joint monitoring of environmental toxic pollution and better share and exchange of new analysis methodology, data and information on ecological state and human health impact of harmful substances. The project results are: PR1) Enforced cross-border partnership in the Black Sea Basin by established interdisciplinary monitoring network of toxic substances based on EU environmental legislation; PR2) Improved regional monitoring system of toxicants in different environmental compartments within BSB by developing a common scientific approach and harmonized operating procedures; PR3) Improved assessment of the ecological state of the BSB regions on the basis of the new acquired and public available data on toxic substances; PR4) Enhanced knowledge and expertise linked with the monitoring of toxic compounds to be applied in the process of the training of professionals from the field and future specialists in the BSB; PR5) Improved public availability of environmental information in the BSB and stronger consciousness of different target groups about the health effects of environmental toxic pollutants. The high-level multidisciplinary expertise and research capacities of the partner institutions will be integrated to assess the cross-border impact of the complex environmental issues in the BSB related to the occurrence of toxic and carcinogenic substances in various compartments (soil, water, vegetation, animals) of rivers, deltas and seas. The jointly developed and optimized investigation methods, techniques and tools will be used in environmental monitoring within BSB, training of specialists and students, and sharing environmental scientific information, through specialized trainings and innovative practices and modern tools (virtual laboratory training, on-line courses, pollution maps prepared with free GIS software, health risk calculator). The level of awareness of the population in BSB regions regarding the environmental issues with cross-border impact will be raised by education, sharing and exchange of accurate scientific information and knowledge on health effects of toxic contaminants existing in soil, water and aquatic organisms.
Read more Achievements (EN): The project addressed the problems of regional pollution in the Black Sea Basin and the spectrum of toxic substances which exist in related environmental compartments and affect the living organisms, population and ecosystem services. The project used regional cross-border cooperation to improve joint monitoring of environmental toxic pollution and better share and exchange of new analysis methodology, data and information on the ecological state and human health impact of harmful substances. The project results were: an enforced cross-border partnership in the Black Sea Basin by establishing an interdisciplinary monitoring network of toxic substances based on EU environmental legislation; an improved regional monitoring system of toxicants in different environmental compartments within BSB by developing a common scientific approach and harmonised operating procedures; improved assessment of the ecological state of the BSB regions on the basis of the newly acquired and available data on toxic substances; enhanced knowledge and expertise linked with the monitoring of toxic compounds to be applied in the process of the training of professionals from the field and future specialists in the BSB; improved public availability of environmental information in the BSB and stronger consciousness of different target groups about the health effects of environmental toxic pollutants.
The jointly developed and optimised investigation methods, techniques and tools were used in environmental monitoring within BSB and sharing environmental scientific information through specialized trainings and innovative practices and modern tools (virtual laboratory training, online courses, pollution maps prepared with free GIS software, health risk calculator). The level of awareness of the population in BSB regions regarding the environmental issues with cross-border impact was raised by education, sharing and exchange of accurate scientific information and knowledge on the health effects of toxic contaminants existing in soil, water and aquatic organisms.
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Expected Outputs (EN): The project results obtained following the implementation are: PR1) Enforced cross-border partnership in the Black Sea Basin by established interdisciplinary monitoring network of toxic substances based on EU environmental legislation; PR2) Improved regional monitoring system of toxicants in different environmental compartments within Black Sea Basin by developing a common scientific approach and harmonized operating procedures; PR3) Improved assessment of the ecological state of the Black Sea Basin regions on the basis of the new acquired and public available data on toxic substances; PR4) Enhanced knowledge and expertise linked with the monitoring of toxic compounds to be applied in the process of the training of professionals from the field and future specialists in the Black Sea Basin; PR5) Improved public availability of environmental information in the Black Sea Basin and stronger consciousness of different target groups about the health effects of environmental toxic pollutants.
All project results are relevant to the Programme expected result 2.1.”Improved availability of cross-border compatible environmental monitoring data and information within Black Sea Basin” and result indicator R2.1 “Level of availability of cross-border compatible environmental monitoring data and information”. This is argumented by: improvement of compatible cross-border environmental monitoring system in BSB of toxic substances based on the new proposed ecotoxicological set of indicators, in line with recent EU environmental legislation; improvement of the cross-border public availability of environmental data and information in the Black Sea Basin by the new ICT tools developed and promotion of cross-border cooperation to share information on risks and threats of toxic pollutants; improving the availability of cross-border updated online public access data and data products through the produced toxic pollution maps for BSB target territories.
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