Empowering Marine Environmental Awareness in Cyprus
Empowering Marine Environmental Awareness in Cyprus is an Enalia Physis Environmental Research Centre project that combines marine environmental education with the Creative Arts to strengthen people’s knowledge, empathy and connection with the Mediterranean Sea.
The project responds to growing pressures on Cyprus’ marine and coastal environments, including pollution, biodiversity loss, coastal development, overfishing and invasive species. At the same time, it addresses the need to reconnect younger generations with the sea, not only through knowledge, but through meaningful emotional and creative experiences.
Aim
The project aims to strengthen marine environmental awareness and rebuild people’s emotional and cultural relationship with the Mediterranean Sea.
Through music, visual arts, movement, dance, drama and storytelling, environmental knowledge is transformed into creative and experiential learning, encouraging participants to develop ocean empathy, marine identity and a sense of responsibility towards the protection of our seas.
Goals
The project seeks to:
- increase children’s understanding of marine ecosystems and the environmental challenges affecting them;
- empower children to recognise that they can contribute to protecting our ocean and waters;
- strengthen educators’ knowledge, creativity and confidence in teaching marine-related subjects;
- use the Creative Arts to make marine environmental education engaging, experiential and emotionally meaningful;
- increase access to marine education, particularly for underserved and underrepresented communities; and
- engage educators, families and wider communities in marine environmental awareness.
Key Activities
The project brings these goals to life through a programme of creative workshops for children aged 3–12, teacher-training sessions, interactive storytelling performances, interdisciplinary educator conferences, community awareness activities and hands-on environmental action.
Activities include 12 creative experiential workshops for children, four teacher-training sessions, two performances of “Here Only Monachus” focusing on the endangered Mediterranean monk seal, and two full-day interdisciplinary educator conferences exploring the role of the Arts in cultivating ecological empathy and ocean-connected identity. The programme also extends marine awareness beyond schools through activities involving families and the wider community.
Project duration: October 2025 – December 2026
Budget: €24,200
Funded by: MetLife Cyprus through the Cyprus Environment Foundation (CEF)
Lead organisation: Enalia Physis Environmental Research Centre
Collaborations: Activities include collaboration with educational institutions and organisations, including the Pancyprian Kindergarten Teachers’ Sector of POED.
Project Management: Rebecca Katsaris – Associate Educator, Enalia Physis Environmental Research Centre; Early Years Educator; Educational Programme Designer; Project Manager. Rebecca Katsaris is the Project Manager of Empowering Marine Environmental Awareness in Cyprus, coordinating the educational design, implementation, partnerships and activities of the project. The project forms part of the wider initiative Increasing Marine Environmental Awareness Through the Creative Arts.
Facilitation Team: The project’s facilitation team consists of educators and artists who are long-term external collaborators of Enalia Physis Environmental Research Centre. Bringing together expertise from education and different fields of the Creative Arts, the interdisciplinary team collaboratively designs and facilitates the project’s experiential marine environmental education activities, including workshops for children, educator training and interactive storytelling experiences.
