International cooperation is a must to achieve the goal of sustainable development, since only through cross border actions’ complex issues like environmental degradation can be faced. Supranational initiatives and shared objectives are the only path for getting a durable and effective green strategy, which transcends boundaries or governments and fosters a common effort for sustainability through networking.
The European Neighborhood and Partnership Instrument (ENPI) aims at reinforcing cooperation between the European Union (EU) and partner countries’ regions placed along the shores of the Mediterranean Sea. To this extent, MESP (Managing the Environmental Sustainability of Ports for a durable development) can be considered as a typical cross border cooperation project, willing to create a sustainable environmental management of port in northern and southern shores of the Mediterranean basin. This has been achieved through the development of specific guidelines towards environmental sustainability and the collection of common tools, methodologies, good practices and innovations focused on pollution reduction that can be replicated in Mediterranean ports and further. This was possible through the creation of a strong cooperation network and long-lasting collaborations among partners and stakeholders such as harbour cities, port authorities, universities, research centres and scientific skills. In order to ensure a better quality of life for current and future generations, the EU developed the Sustainable Development Strategy (EU SDS) as the overarching policy framework for all Union policies and strategies.
Download Civil Engineering PowerPoint Template (PPT) and PowerPoint Background for Civil Engineering presentation. The Eastern Tropical South Pacific oxygen minimum zone (ETSP-OMZ) is a site of intense nitrous oxide (N2O) flux to the atmosphere. This flux results from production of N2O by nitrification and denitrification, but the contribution of the two processes is unknown. The rates of these pathways and. 5589 Archive Website Templates > Construction/Engineer. 1000px Architect Civil engineering Construction Engineer Handyman Psd. Website Templates.
Thanks to short- and long-term objectives, it offers a wide range of common recommendations, key factors and visions regarding local and global actions on social, economic and environmental issues. With reference to the latter, in particular, the EU SDS aims to reduce the degradation eco-systems, crucial for guaranteeing a high quality of life, by strengthening the efforts for environmental protection [,,]. Concerning maritime issues, at the regional level, attention has been paid to the so-called “Barcelona system” [] consisting of the Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment and the Coastal Region of the Mediterranean and its various protocols, respectively, dealing with dumping, pollution from ships, land-based pollution, specially protected areas and biodiversity, offshore activities and hazardous waste and, notably, integrated coastal zone management. The Barcelona Convention itself aims at ensuring an active cooperation among its contracting parties on a wide range of issues relevant to the protection of the Mediterranean marine and coastal environment while boosting regional and national plans to achieve sustainable development.
In particular, it promotes the integrated management of the coastal zones taking into account the protection of areas of ecological landscape interest and the rational use of national resources. A key operational tool for sustainable marine governance is certainly represented by Marine Spatial Planning [] in order to implement the Ecosystem-Based Management approach (EBM) [,,], provided by EU 2007 Integrated Maritime Policy (IMP) [,] and EU 2008 Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) objectives []. To this extent, in order for Member States to adequately contribute to this key strategy, according to their responsibilities and capabilities, EU promotes international programmes as the main tool to develop best practices to be locally applied [,]. The promotion of environmental sustainability at the Mediterranean basin level is one of the main priorities of the Operational Programme ENPI CBC MED (European Neighborhood and Partnership Instrument multilateral Cross-Border Cooperation “Mediterranean Sea Basin”) [] by dealing with the Mediterranean Countries’ common challenges through a harmonious cooperation process. Among the various granted ENPI CBC MED projects, “MESP” (Managing the Environmental Sustainability of Ports for a durable development) [] will be hereinafter analyzed, as a good example of EU sustainable project management. Moreover, MESP being a cross border cooperation project, the governance resulted in being more complex while being enriching with respect to other kind of EU funded projects, as deeply analyzed in the following. This project aims to decrease pollution levels concerning air, noise and water deriving from port activities and give back to citizens, tourists and workers a healthier and more usable environment.
During 36 months, the “status quo” of ports in northern and southern parts of the Mediterranean basin was analyzed, and a guideline on best practices, methodologies and measurement assessment for environmental sustainability of ports was elaborated on with the aim of being shared and replicated by Mediterranean ports. MESP project has been able to promote environmental sustainability in the Mediterranean, thanks to a partnership composed of key actors in the field of environmental protection with a high level of heterogeneous expertise on environmental sustainability, pollution phenomena, and, most of all, the capability to enrich the state-of-the-art with the experience of different port contexts. The choice of MESP members was strongly connected to each partner’s skills and experiences in environmental pollution thematic.
In fact, the partnership is composed of either academics, with strong experiences and competences, and port authorities and agencies, carrying their knowledge and awareness on issues concerning port realities and related activities. In this way, the presence within the partnership of universities and stakeholders assure a great level of accuracy and entirety to the project by directly applying the theoretical knowledge to the real harbour context. Moreover, the multidisciplinary approach for the three sectors of air, noise and water, permitted to have a broader vision of the port scenario, allow for optimizing MESP project activities.
MESP project has been implemented by six partners from four countries both from the northern and southern parts of the Mediterranean basin: Italy, Greece, Lebanon and Jordan. The partnership is composed of: the Mechanical Engineering Department (DIME) of the University of Genoa, Italy (as the Applicant Beneficiary), the Physical Oceanography Marine Science Station (MSS) from the University of Jordan, Aqaba, Jordan, the Port Authority of La Spezia, Italy, the Al-Manar University of Tripoli (MUT), Lebanon, the Department of Environment and Sustainable Development from the Patras Municipal Enterprise for Planning and Development S.A. (ADEP), Greece and the Exploitation Office of Port of Tripoli (OEPT), Lebanon (). In addition, two more associate partners worked with the partnership: Jordan Environmental Society (JES) Aqaba, Jordan and Urban Community of Al-Fayhaa (UCF), Tripoli, Lebanon, playing an important role in the implementation of the project.
Their added value consisted of upgrading training capacities in the field of environmental management together with supporting local partners in the implementation of the project. To this extent, UCF gave an institutional and operative support to the pilot project in Tripoli by involving the urban community, strongly affirming the interest of the entire territory for the project results. In the same way, JES supported MESP in Jordan with an awareness campaign for the public and governmental sectors regarding the importance of the environment as well the impact of the project. The complex realities of ports include several different activities and various actors that need to be strongly involved in an effective management in the harbor context. Therefore, MESP collaborated with several organizations and created durable collaboration agreements with a wide range of different stakeholders, such as the Aqaba Special Economic Zone Area (ASEZA), the Aqaba Container Terminal (ACT), the Regional Agency for the Environment Protection in Liguria Region (ARPAL, Agenzia Regionale per la Protezione Ambientale) and the International Centre on Evironemntal Monitoring (CIMA, Centro Internazionale in Monitoraggio Ambientale) Foundation. Organizational Structure of the Project.
The general objective of MESP project [] was set to guarantee the environmental sustainability of port activities and a high level of life quality in the nearby surrounding urban areas. The environment was taken into consideration under three main sectors strongly characterizing port areas: water, noise and air. The project aimed to decrease pollution levels deriving from port activities and give back to citizens, tourists and workers a healthier and usable environment. This was possible by providing method, procedures and practices easily applicable on both sides of the Mediterranean Sea, allowing for valuing and improving the environmental sustainability of ports. These actions aim to support management port authorities and infrastructures’ users in reaching a higher level of sustainability and in decreasing the pollution levels.
Management of Technical Activities. MESP project proposed to carry out structured activities in an organic way and articulated in five Working Packages (WPs) as shown in.
WP1 on Coordination and Management and WP5 on Dissemination and Communication are meant to be crosscutting activities with technical interventions for the whole duration of the project implementation. Indeed, the real core of MESP lied in the three Work Packages “Knowledge sharing” (WP2), “Tool’s implementation” (WP3) and “Pilot Projects” (WP4), where the scientific and technical activities have been developed. WP3 “Tool’s implementation”, outlining a crucial phase of the project. In fact, all collected and shared information, methodologies, technologies and practices outlined in WP2 represented the basis for the definition of a specific methodological approach for the sustainable management of ports. In this way, in order to define the starting point for the build-up of the guidelines, a detailed study on real port contexts and surrounding urban areas appeared to be significant.
Hence, specific analysis of the four MESP port territorial areas (Aqaba, La Spezia, Tripoli and Patras) have been conducted, collecting information particularly on trade, logistics, transport, mobility and future territorial planning. All this led to the final outcomes of WP3, the “Roadmap on Sustainability Criteria: Guidelines for Port Environmental Management”, a simple and easy tool addressed to professional figures of the Mediterranean basin port public administrations, offering best-practice approaches to a sustainable management of harbors.
WP4 “Pilot projects”, representing the technical core of project activity. The aim was to validate, through pilot projects, the content developed in WP3. To this extent, three demo interventions, one for each thematic, have been implemented in MESP ports (Aqaba on water, La Spezia on air and Patras on noise). In order to assess if a common pollution reduction approach implemented in two or more environmental sectors can improve results or hinder other outcomes, pilot projects on air, noise and water have been implemented in the port of Tripoli, allowing for evaluating possible intervention influences.
The flowchart of the technical Work Packages’ different tasks is shown in. WP5 “Dissemination and Communication”, containing the correct methodology for a good project implementation and for an efficient dissemination of project results.
Within the partnership, the efficacy of activities has been guaranteed by a constant and efficient support of dynamic dissemination actions and easily accessible tools. For what concerns external dissemination, it is worth noting that it seems crucial to clearly transfer project targets and results in order to raise awareness among citizens, local authorities and stakeholders on pollution abatement in ports, affecting the natural and urban environment. MESP Implementation Approach for Sustainable Development.
The abovementioned structure of the project allowed the partnership to proceed with the implementation of the activities foreseen in a continuous and fruitful way. In order to monitor the efficacy of the implementation of the project, performance criteria and indicators are considered among the best and most used tools, able to determine and describe the achievement of targeted goals. Namely, a Key Performance Indicator (KPI) [,,] is a quantified gauge used to evaluate the progress status of an activity in reaching its target goals. According to different needs, KPIs can be chosen in strict relation to each reality, performance criteria and different objectives. Relating to the ENPI CBCMED Programme, these KPIs have been measured on a time schedule basis every six months, allowing the Applicants to adequately check and evaluate their project progress and update the JMA on it. Two tools have been provided in order to monitor either the project management or the technical implementation of activities foreseen. The former, the Action Plan, included all listed activities divided by each semesters and had been updated several times throughout the duration of the project.
The latter, the Logical Framework, contained all technical quantitative indicators specifically tailored for MESP project activities, expected results and their overall and specific objectives. Although starting with different experiences and little common ground, the common objective of the sustainability of port management allowed the partnership to exploit the multidisciplinary competences in order to analyze and discuss common issues from different points of view. This was certainly a project key factor that contributed to providing a great added value for the activities, allowing for finding common solutions to different challenges. Moreover, plenary meetings were revealed to be crucial, particularly referring to pilot projects.
In each city, a meticulous port visit has been organized as an important occasion to share knowledge and best practices on the different approaches in activities, technologies, management and logistics. This has led to fruitful discussion and analysis to set the forthcoming pilot project design and implementation interventions. To ensure the environmental sustainability aimed for by the MESP project after the end of the activities, all involved ports decided to continue the monitoring campaigns using the infrastructures, facilities equipment and tools funded by the project. Furthermore, Tripoli and Patras Ports are currently under the process of the ISO 9001:2015 [] for quality management system and ISO for environmental management system for the []. As an academic institution, MUT will build further activities based on MESP data within its Civil Engineering curriculum.
The equipment purchased through the MESP project will be used in environmental engineering laboratory classes, or environment classes, where students are trained to use equipment as learned in testing procedures and measuring in the field. For what concerns prefunding and funding schemes, JMA provides partners with an advance payment of around 20%–25% of the foreseen budget. In order to get a second pre-financing, the partnership needs to reach a threshold of at least 80% of the ENPI share of the eligible forecast and expenses incurred in the period; no fixed reporting periods are foreseen. Within this financing system, an adequate cash flow must be guaranteed by each partner by anticipating funds for current expenses, and are reimbursed after certification and reporting period.
The MESP team, after receiving the advance payment at month 4, requested a pre-financing on the second year, after a long procedure, receiving it at month 35. These long processes reflected directly on activity, as the cash flow shortage could not always be overcome by some partners. During the second and third year, in particular, an accurate revision of spending planning and procedures for each partner was necessary in order to solve and break through any cash problem and avoid delays in pilot projects’ interventions. The budget in the ENPI project is strictly structured with a detailed split on cost item, calculated for unit cost (like in other Interreg programmes). This implies that incurred expenses must be very accurate and always need to refer to a specific budget line, with no room for errors or rounding. Budget shifts (minor and major) are always possible but need to follow a long procedure and, obviously, must be duly justified and motivated. The MESP partnership needed several adjustments within project lifetimes and asked for one major and three minor budget shifts.
For what concerns results obtained on project activities, MESP succeeded in achieving the target goals foreseen. In particular, the main outcomes represented by the Guidelines for Port Environmental Management and the pilot project interventions in the four selected port areas (Aqaba, La Spezia, Patras and Tripoli) have been accomplished in a successful way. Therefore, MESP succeeded in formulating a common tool based on the elaboration of measurement methodologies and test procedures that can be easily replicated in other ports, especially in the Mediterranean basin, in order to ameliorate ports’ sustainable environmental management and improve governance of ports in the three major environmental sectors of air, noise and water.
These activities have been achieved starting with a great effort on the initial knowledge exchange among the partnerships on pollution reduction issues This database has been performed by focusing on the related management tools, methodologies, tools, significant experiences and technologies, laws and standards and meaningful experiences and expertise (best practices). Thanks to the continuous debate within the partnership, by involving internal experts and external Scientific Advisory Committee members, it was possible to increase significantly the skills and competences of the whole partnership on sustainable environmental and pollution reduction. Because of this solid and active cooperation among partners, a reliable working group has been created with great results in collaboration. Important results have also been achieved on the direct impact of the project on the territory.
By raising the awareness on sustainable environmental impact on air, noise and water pollution, and working since the beginning with local stakeholders in a participative approach, the enhancement of MESP partnership capability to work locally with port authorities and within partners’ territories has been possible in order to ameliorate environmental management, survey and analysis. Moreover, some partners built strong collaborations, which led to formal agreements with Container Terminal companies and stakeholders, encountered during the implementation of pilot project activities, for a continued monitoring of environment quality in port areas. The greatest impact on local territory is evident in the case of Tripoli, where, thanks to the great effort of the Port Authority, partner in the project, a new environmental working group has been established and a new environmental office has been built, being the starting point for a durable pollution abatement management in the area.
The connection with local stakeholders has been further strengthened by the organization of dissemination activities as workshops and project meetings in each partner city related to MESP activities, leading to a continuous debate on the topic of environmental pollution. Some partners succeeded in building a long-lasting cooperation with local public administration, stakeholders, academic institutions and port authorities and raising awareness among ports workers.
From the project management point of view, all teams achieved building and improving capacities in project management, financial, administrative and technical issues related to decentralized cooperation projects, some of them being involved in their first experience in EU programmes. A strong coordination and communication by the Applicant was crucial in accomplishing projects achievements such as reports, monitoring campaigns, dissemination activities, pilot project interventions and organization of events. Regarding project activities, the diversity of each port in terms of context, geographical location and boundaries, activities, operating equipment and vehicles did not represent a barrier but allowed MESP partnership to create and adopt a different approach for the build-up of the guideline document. In fact, it ensured a high level of replicability and adaptation to different port realities.
Indeed, the obstacle was to keep a common methodological approach regardless of the differences and maintain the overall objective of the project throughout the implementation processes. Moreover, some restraints have been highlighted in the different approaches in tackling the cultural common routines of port workers and nearby populations. The difference in languages, especially during elaboration of common reports or guidelines, represented sometimes a challenge, a partnership being composed of people from four different countries: Italy, Lebanon, Greece and Jordan. Another difficulty faced at the beginning of the activity was the choice of the pollutant thresholds to follow as the different laws and regulations in partner countries foresee different standard limits for emissions in air, noise and water sectors. The partnership agreed—as explained in the Guidelines—on leaving national limits where they are at present and adopting European or International regulations where lacking. Regarding the weak points, during measurement campaigns, together with initial difficulties in getting permission for the implementation of measures of noise level inside the port areas from local authorities, the unavailability of appropriate equipment in the local market slowed down the whole process as for the purchase of modeling and simulation software.
Cash flow represented a challenge throughout the whole duration of the project. In the ENPI CBC MED programme, as in most of the European ones, funds are anticipated only in a small part (around 20%) and are paid back after reporting periods.
This system generates cash flow problems, as most of the expenses need to be anticipated by each structure involved, getting reimbursed only after the revision of whole declared expenses. Some of the partners, at their first European cooperation project experience, found difficulties in justifying this cash flow lack with their own administration, in the continuous need for cash to face expenses related to ongoing activities. At the end of the project, looking back at three years of work, several best practices and lessons learnt during the implementation of the activities can be identified.
Other partnerships involved in international cooperation aiming for environmental sustainability can capitalize on them in order to facilitate their activities and foster reciprocal collaboration. Furthermore, the delivery of practicable guidelines and the development of a common regulatory approach focusing on water, air and noise are an effective outcome of the project. First of all, MESP created a strong network among local authorities, public administration, stakeholder and universities, producing in each context the correct approach for a durable development of pollution management. To this extent, academic institutions played a major role in bringing support and know-how in the partnership.
MESP project succeeded, through this inclusive approach, in promoting environmental sustainability at the Mediterranean level, suggesting efficient mitigation actions in protecting nearby urban areas from the impact of port activities, improving the quality of life of port workers and safeguarding the biodiversity in harbors. However, it should be underlined that all technical and scientific results are a strict consequence of the networking among partners, public administrations, private stakeholders, and research institutions, which was the prerequisite for every successful action on the field. Good practices in air, noise and water sectors were identified to help management authorities of ports reach a higher level of sustainability and reduce environmental pollution, as clearly explained in the Guidelines document. Furthermore, the project started new processes of environmental monitoring that are becoming a permanent fixture in the environmental management of involved harbors.
Environmental pollution levels in ports were evaluated, impact of port activities on urban surroundings was analyzed and assessed, and interventions to reduce pollution were recommended, leading to the enrichment of all ports through the exchange of expertise, practices and knowledge. In this regard, the workshops and events organized during MESP played a relevant role. Their implementation involved all target stakeholders and the accurate communication succeeded in bringing awareness to the participants about the relevance of the environmental management of ports for achieving a durable development. Lessons learnt over the project dealt with several features, ranging from the effect of recovery actions to the impact of funds’ timing. In relation to this, the distribution over time of financing and the administrative procedures needed to obtain the reimbursement of incurred expenses were revealed to be a real obstacle to the implementation of the expected activities. The risk to fail in developing the foreseen actions for a leak of money caused by delays in the administration process was largely underestimated by the present partnership at the beginning of the project.
On the contrary, it has been a threat to the regular implementation of the tasks over its whole duration. Finally, the importance of cooperation among countries in deciding and implementing initiatives for sustainability in coastal areas, where the EU cooperation policy, and specifically the ENPI CBC MED programme, plays a crucial role in fostering and facilitating must be made evident one more time. On a local scale, communication and coordination among port authorities, municipalities, private stakeholders, and research institutions are essential for ensuring environmental sustainability in harbors, while port networking significantly helps to enhance the impact of the achieved results. In the same way, dissemination through scientific papers, public events, workshops, media and social media is an essential tool to capitalize projects' results. This publication has been produced with the financial assistance of the European Union under the European Neighborhood and Partnership Instrument Cross-Border Cooperation Mediterranean Sea Basin Programme (ENPI CBC MED). The contents of this document are the sole responsibility of the authors and can under no circumstances be regarded as reflecting the position of the European Union or of the Programme’s management structures. The MESP project’s total budget is €1,388,695.72, and it was financed for an amount of €1,249,826.15 (90%) by the European Union.
Author Contributions. Location Interventions Impact as Results Stakeholder Involved AIR La Spezia (Italy) Treatment of Marina del Canaletto road (inside port area) with a biofix, able to “incorporate” particles and limit the resuspension of air pollutants in the air Decrease in the component PM 10 average evaluated of 17% ARPAL Liguria, CIMA Foundation, EUROVIX S.p.A., La Spezia Container Terminal Tripoli (Lebanon) Purchase and constant use of a road sweeper in port roads and quays. Regular control of cranes and forklifts Reduction of air pollutants and dust in the port and the surrounding areas; Establishment of an environmental port office. Balamand University, Municipality of Tripoli NOISE Patras (Greece) Installation of soundproof windows on a pilot exposed municipality building Reduction of internal sound levels - Tripoli (Lebanon) Installation within the port area of: speed limit, no honking, and cross road signs’ speed bumps Decrease of sound levels Municipality of Tripoli WATER Aqaba (Jordan) Continuous monitoring campaigns to constantly evaluate and control water physical and chemical properties. Accord with the Aqaba Container Terminal in order to limit, at best, dumping and spills in the sea In the Container Port of the Gulf of Aqaba, water pollutant parameters indicate good quality sea water. Aseeza, ACT Tripoli (Lebanon) Collection and safely disposal of ships discharges.
Awareness Campaign Cleaning campaign conducted to collect solid waste. Purchase of equipment for oil spill Elaboration of a Contingency Plan for Marine Pollution Preparedness and Response for the containment of oil spills and fire accidents.
Slight increment of water quality (long term results expected); Emergency response team and procedures; Establishment of an Environmental port office. Municipality of Tripoli, Council of reconstruction and Development of Tripoli. Project Activities Challenges Encountered Description of Level of Challenge Contingency Plan Difficulties in the definition of a common methodological approach High risk, since the common approach is crucial to implement pilot activities Early and deep state-of-the-art analysis, frequent checks and revisions of the various proposed approaches on a cooperative solution. Strong coordination and communication actions by the applicant and the partners Difficulties in different languages and cultures Low risk Through the deep relationships started from the beginning of this challenge to get to a strong point, which enriched all of the partnerships.
Welcome to the home of templates and forms for Construction and Civil Engineering Projects. We are regularly adding new templates and will ultimately provide over 400 premium document templates, forms, reports, checklists, etc. Whether you are a General Contractor or a Sub-contractor in a specified trade, we have exactly what you need to streamline or manage any and all aspects of your project. We are continuously developing new templates, forms, reports to cover your project needs.
We don't offer complicated software, lengthy application forms or buy-in trial periods. All templates are in Excel, Word and Powerpoint. With every template, you’ll be able to access readymade documents that you will be able to manipulate and customize to fit your specific project need. A successful project starts with a good project plan, standarised procedure and processes. Our Project management templates will not only assist in the above but also improve your efficiency create professional documents in minutes.
Our templates has been developed by Contractors for the Construction Engineering Industry. We understand and appreciate the quickly evolving value and importance of technology in our industry and. We're committed to providing this technology in user friendly project management document templates for all aspects of the construction industry. Our experience allows us to create these specifically tailored for construction companies with the entire construction process in mind. We therefore strive to provide our customers with proper business tools to help them manage their construction project activities professionally. Looking for a specific document template or customized form for your business? We have you covered!
Please contact us for immediate support and we will ensure a service that meets your highest satisfaction. Creating new documents for every opportunity your construction company can waste valuable time and money. Instead, focus on customized business documents and internal templates that can be utilized for a variety of projects, including business communication.
These standardized documents will allow your company to keep your brand consistent while also maintaining efficiency. Templates increase speed Instead of creating a new document or form every time you send a letter, memo, report or worksheet, you can reuse the template and simply change the content information. This boosts efficiency across the company, at every. Level and standing of employee, as the only point workers have to focus on is the actual data necessary. Reduction in errors is a plus Have you ever sent a document only to realize that certain aspects were missing?
Templates can fix those mistakes by enforcing a consistent checklist or points to include. The documents outline what elements need to be captured, leaving little room for missing details. Consistency and conciseness Documents can differ in how facts are presented, leaving every employee to individually decide on the display of critical information. Allow for a constant form, which makes it easier for clients to locate important aspects of correspondence quickly. Uniformity will impress clients and customers who know the level of professionalism they will receive by working with your company. Templates save money Templates are electronic, reusable and considerably less expensive than having to reinvent a document every time it is needed.
Improvement in customer satisfaction Templates present information in a professional method, allowing for easier beginning to end project documentation.