ESIN
European Small Islands FederationArchive for Tonino Picula
“Water saving project results presented in Zagreb
A project and a team to wish for! Luckily, the second phase is yet to begin! đ says Ivan Matic, project officer at Tonino Picula’s office.
The web page will be up and running next week. You will be able to download the book, many more examples of water saving, templates and the eight field studies.
New funding for clean energy on islands
The European Commission has announced an increase in the budget for Europe’s islands amounting to an impressive 10 million euros.
In Brussels, MEP Tonino Picula met with Cristopher Jones (Deputy General Director of the Commissionâs Energy Directorate) who confirmed this information and thanked him for the initiative so far.
The reason for this meeting was the continuation of the implementation of the Preparatory Action proposed by Tonino Picula last year, and for which 2 million has already been approved from the EU budget.
Namely, Picula, together with his colleagues Alfred Sant (MEP from Malta) and Michela Giuffrida (MEP from Italy) from the Inter-Group of the European Parliament for the Sea, Rivers, Islands and Coastal areas, of which Picula is responsible for European Islands, put in place an amendment, following a positive evaluation from the European commission and the European Parliament, ha managed to obtain the aforementioned 2 million euros for the islands.
âThe goal of this action is to make the islanders [themselves] the leaders in the use of clean energy, to become the models for solutions at a European level. To help them make the most of the electricity they use by using local clean energy sources and thus become more autonomous in regard to their energy supplyâ, says Picula.
Tenders will be announced next month (November 2017) and funds will be allocated within the next two years. The deadline for applications is January 2018.
Water saving objectives
Mayors and water managers from eight islands met on Croatian island Vis to decide if it is possible for islands to save water. The islands â Tilos and Ithaca in Greece, Vis and Lastovo in Croatia, Sein and Houat in France, Cape Clear and Inis OĂrr â all have a scarcity of drinking water, mainly due to the development of tourism.
Based on recent, detailed field studies of the water situation on each of the islands made by the KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm and with live support from professors Anders Nordstrom and Sara Borgstrom, the meeting discussed best and worst practices in water saving. Moving further into action planning, they found that clever combinations of changes in human behaviour, simple household and large-scale technologies, smart pricing and governance can lead to savings from 6 to 50% within two years, as reported on Croatian national news https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XfM_bS6yZ6s.
This would mean 18 billions of litres saved a year. If this is desalinated water, it is also a huge saving on energy and money.
With strong support from Tonino Picula http://toninopicula.com/en/from-media/internet-and-press/mep-piculas-project-water-saving-challenge/a2400, the project team is going to document their findings and suggestions to be presented before the Europan Parliament on November 22. They also want to create a âIslands as Water Saving Labsâ two-year project to measure their ongoing accomplishments and to share their knowledge and experiences within the group, to ESIN islands and to all who want to learn how islands manage to make small water footprints.
World Water Day
Vice-President of the European Parliament Intergroup for the islands, Tonino Picula, organized a panel discussion on the islands and hosted representatives of eight small European islands from Croatia, France, Greece and Ireland, in the European Parliament in Brussels yesterday.
The panel, which was held on the occasion of World Water Day, marks the beginning of the project “Water saving challenge” that aims to save water and money on the islands. The project gathers 8 islands from 4 EU Member States (see the map attached). They will use their experience and knowledge for development of mindsets and technologies for saving water and communicate it to the 1,640 islands of ESIN – and others.
“The lack of drinking water affects both islands and coastal communities, and the Water Saving Challenge taps into possibilities of using technology and adjusting human behaviour to save both water and money”, said MEP Tonino Picula.
The project will carry out through the whole year, during which two key events will be held. Meeting of the working group after the field research is set for September on KomiĆŸa, island Vis and results will be presented in November, again in the European Parliament in Brussels.
Christian Pleijel with the Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden, said that “the aim of this project is to prove that we can, as people, islanders, industry, entrepreneurs, teenagers … reduce water consumption and build a project together, by listening to the islanderâs solutions. For example, to establish a hotel that would motivate guests to stay in, because it successfully saves water.”
Dr. Christoforos Perakis from the Greek Centre for Renewable Energy Sources and Saving emphasized that they plan to make the island Agios Efstratios the first Greek “green island” which will get almost all the energy from renewable sources. As an excellent example of combining the power of wind and water towards energy independence, he announced a new project on the construction of a hybrid power plant on the island of Ikaria.
Mairtin O’Mealoid from the European Federation of small islands (ESIN) with Irish Cape Clear Island announced a major investment of the Irish Government in pipeline, because it turned out that 60 percent of water (11 million liters yearly = 30,000 liters/day) is lost on the way from pumping station to the consumers on the island.
“This project is a result of islanders and politicians working together and therefore I am extremely grateful to MEP Picula for his support and dedication to the project.”
The core team of the “Water saving challenge” project is : MEP Picula, Christian Pleijel and Mairtin O’Mealoid, Anders Nordstrom of the University of Stockholm and Maxime Bredin, representative of the University of Brest. Eight islands included are : Vis and Lastovo, Sein, Houat, Ithaca, Cape Clear, Inisheer and Tilos.
The panel on the islands presented a lot of useful and positive examples of efficient management of water as the most important resource. Discussion pointed that the island’s water resources were often, and for too long, badly ruled and that the islanders were often imposed ineffective solutions, coming from mainland.
Although much still has to be done for efficient and sustainable resolution of the island’s water management, the panelists concluded that the opening of this dialogue between European islands is a significant step forward that will enable better and more effective action for improving life on the islands around the Old continent.
The 11th Nation
At the EESC Public Hearing 7th of February, Croatian MEP Tonino Picula mentioned that the islands of Europe, if grouped together, would rank as Europeâs ninth nation. I double-checked him, making a table based on Wikipedia, from which I excluded islands that are nations (Great Britain, Ireland, Cyprus and Malta) but included all the remaining 2.136 ones, summing up their areas and their populations.
The result is a complex, widespread, divided, illusive island nation with an area of 454,753 km2 and with 18,889,077 inhabitants. Were it a nation, it would population-wise place itself after Romania but before Kazakstan[1]. Counting by area, it would rank as the 4th nation of Europe, just after Norway[2]. Assuming humans are more important than land, the islands of Europe grouped together would rank as the number 11 among the 50 sovereign states of Europe. Were it a nation, it might be called ISLANDIA.
Is this 11th nation of Europe different from the other 28 nations of Europe? Yes: it has some very valuable assets: (1) shores, that attract hundreds of millions of tourists every year; (2) seas, that contain tides, waves, oil, gas, fish, motorways of the seas as well as more ordinary waterways; (3) unrivalled natural and cultural heritages.
This 11th imaginary nation also has an invisible obstacle surrounding it: remoteness â a permanent handicap causing extra costs for its small-scale societies, enterprises and inhabitants. There are 671 ro-pax ferries connecting the islands with the mainland. On the one thousand smaller islands, 38% of the total energy spent is used for sea transports, larger islands somewhat less[3]. To reengineer these sea transport systems would be an economical, ecological and social revolution.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_European_countries_by_population
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_European_countries_by_area
Public Hearing on the Future for Islands
On a short visit to Malta, ESIN tries to be the voice of Europe’s two thousand small islands in a ‘Public Hearing’ arranged by EESC on the subject ‘What future for islands in the European Union”
I am sad to find Vasilis Margaras much detested study here, where he states that the number of small islands in Europe is 228, but I do comment on it. I am puzzled when the EESC president asks ‘What is the really the difference between an island and the French countryside?”
Luckily, there are many smart persons here to answer such a question: Marie-Antoinette Maupertius from the Committee of Regions (who is working on an opinion on entrepreneurship on islands), George Assonitis from INSULEUR, Malta Minister for Economy Chris Cardona, professor Caroline Buts and Rapporteur Stefano Mallia stating: “This debate on islands is like Brexit: a wake-up call.”
We are some 40 people discussing during three hours. I get the opportunity to speak to Tonino Picula, Vice Chair of the Parliament Intergroup for Islands, and Nektarios Santorinios, Greek Vice Minister of Maritime Affairs and Insular Policy, regarding the project on Water Saving on eight european islands that we are about to start.
Much is happening in our european union now, our European Union.
Denis BariÄ re-elected President of Croatian islands
Denis BariÄ and Tonino Picula
Fifteen years have passed since the Croatian Islands Parliament (OtoÄni Sabor) was founded. The last year has been focused on the fight for the preservation of small-scale fishing, the consequences of the implementation of the Ordnance on conditions and manner of exercising the right to preferential transport on the routes in the public maritime transport, the 63rd session of the Committee on Environment and Nature of the Croatian Parliament on the issue of research and exploitation of hydrocarbons in the Adriatic, participation in two petitions (for helicopter emergency medical assistance and “against cancer in two steps”), actions for fair island products, for island culture, and becoming a member of ESIN.
– âLiving on an island, by birth or choice, must not be an obstacle to the development aspirations of a modern manâ, says Denis BariÄ.
At the Islands Parliament meeting, MEP Tonino Picula pointed out that all availabe data shows the average national income of an islander is much lower than that of a mainlander.
– We will try to meet a common desire to form an independent Croatian cluster for energy sustainability of the islands. We plan to strengthen the agricultural cooperatives on the islands in order to increase employability of young people. We are especially proud that our oldest member, 100-year-old Anti DragiÄ, just published his book “Life on the island – economic life on the islands between the two world wars,” says Denis BariÄ, who was re-elected as President of the Islands Parliament of Croatia on the 18th of May.
