The Save the North Sea project’s overriding aim has been the reduction of marine litter in the North Sea, but with more than 20 000 tonnes dumped each year into this huge expanse of water, it is a significant form of pollution which still remains unresolved. The main achievement of this project has been raising awareness of this issue and getting thousands of people involved in this important work.
Marine litter – a sustatainable development issue  The project has focused on activities involving North Sea fishermen, seamen, leisure craft owners and the offshore industry that use the sea as a place of work or for recreational purposes. Marine litter is a sustainable development issue, encompassing environmental, social and economic aspects. Sea mammals, fish and birds eat plastics and local governments spend thousands of Euros each year on clean-up campaigns. In addition, it costs the UK fishing industry thousands of pounds each year in contaminated catches, lost fishing time and damaged equipment. Litter-strewn beaches cause environmental, social and economic problems for coastal communities throughout the North Sea region. Clean water, one of the United Nations’ key objectives, is hard to achieve when old tires, refrigerators, plastic bottles, syringes, fishing gear and crates, hard hats, and thousands of other marine litter items are both floating on the surface and sinking to the bottom of the North Sea. Against this background it was important to create opportunities for an open dialogue between all those groups who have a special relationship to the North Sea. An awareness of the marine litter problem was the first goal. And what better way of achieving this than working with local, regional and national politicians from all over the North Sea region. UN Habitat Award for Good Practise We are very humbled and very grateful for the energy and enthusiasm that we received from the 2 000 people who have been an integral part of this project. We are also proud of receiving the UN Habitat (United Nations Human Settlements Programme) Award for Good Practice 2004. And we are grateful to EU Interreg IIIB North Sea Programme for cofinancing this 5.7 MEuro project, the largest marine litter project ever in the North Sea region. Even though this project ended on December 31, 2004, the North Sea marine litter situation unfortunately did not. Our project tried to inspire people with the belief that every person can take a personal responsibility for reducing marine litter, and we believe that many of the activities that we initiated will be carried on by caring people and organizations throughout the North Sea area. Nancy Holm Project Leader, Save the North Sea Project Keep Sweden Tidy Foundation		Nancy Holm, Project Manager for Save the North Sea Project, visiting a Scottish beach outside Aberdeen.    Marine litter on a Dutch beach. Photo ALTERRA-Franeker