EVENTS: Guardians of the Coast: PREBIODUNES 1st Transnational Partnership Meeting Unites Experts to Protect Mediterranean Dune Biodiversity

On 12 and 13 June 2025, the inaugural Transnational Partnership Meeting of the PREBIODUNES project—“PREserving BIOdiversity in coastal DUNEs from tourism pressure”—was held at the Computer Technology Institute and Press “Diophantus” (CTI) in Athens, Greece. Co-funded by the Interreg IPA South Adriatic Programme, the event brought together official project partners from Italy, Greece, Montenegro and Bosnia-Herzegovina, alongside experts and institutional representatives, to discuss the pressing need to safeguard fragile coastal dune ecosystems increasingly threatened by tourism and environmental change.

The meeting opened with addresses from Leonardo Damiani, coordinator of the project and Professor at the Polytechnic University of Bari, Serafeim Liapis of the Decentralised Administration of Epirus and Western Macedonia, Nikolaos Georgakos, Mayor of Preveza, and Manolis Koutoulakis, Secretary General for Aegean and Island Policy in Greece. Mr Koutoulakis emphasised the vital role of government policy in protecting coastal environments.

Central to the workshop was the presentation of initial project findings by the partners themselves. These detailed the extensive mapping and ecological assessments conducted across the pilot sites. Technical contributions from Zrinko Baricevic and Stribor Markovic of the University of Rijeka, Maurizio Manna of Gallipoli Municipality, Dimitris Salmas (CTI), Milica Stanisic Vujacic (University of Montenegro), Admir Aladzuz (HydroEngineering Institute) and Tania Floqi (GoGreenStudio/AOO) highlighted significant preliminary data crucial for steering upcoming project phases.

Further discussions focused on the design and implementation of pilot actions, with Matilda Mali (Polytechnic University of Bari), Alberico Sonnessa and Maria Francesca Bruno (CTI/Polytechnic University of Bari) presenting advanced environmental monitoring systems. Ex-situ conservation efforts were also addressed by the University of Rijeka team. Communication strategies and project management were overseen by Damiani and the Polytechnic team.

On the second day, esteemed researchers Sofia Reizopoulou and Vasilios Kapsimalis of the Hellenic Centre for Marine Research elaborated on the importance of dunes for coastal protection and ecosystem resilience. Subsequent presentations by Piero Picuno (University of Basilicata), Daniela Malcangio (Polytechnic University of Bari) and Alessandra Saponieri (University of Salento) showcased cutting-edge tools for biodiversity monitoring and sedimentary dynamics analysis.

The meeting concluded with detailed presentations of the mapping results from the four pilot sites—Gallipoli, Preveza, Velika Plaža and the Klek Peninsula—demonstrating the diversity of ecological contexts and the necessity for coordinated, site-specific conservation strategies. This event marked a crucial step forward in fostering transnational collaboration to protect Mediterranean coastal dunes, vital natural habitats underpinning biodiversity and safeguarding shorelines from environmental threats.