The main objective of the FiuMare project was to strengthen environmental awareness, green skills, and active citizenship among young people through non-formal and experiential learning. The project aimed to bridge the gap between knowledge and action by combining environmental education with hands-on clean-up activities in natural and urban environments. Another key objective was to empower youth to understand pollution pathways and their own role in preventing marine and river pollution, while providing practical tools and experiences that could inspire long-term behavioural change. Through mobile education, creative methods, and public engagement, the project sought to make environmental learning accessible, relevant and motivating. FiuMare also aimed to strengthen transnational cooperation between NMF and ReMida by facilitating two-way knowledge exchange and developing shared educational methods. By combining environmental action with creative, art-based learning approaches, FiuMare sought to create a transferable project model and educational tools that could be used beyond the project period and in different local contexts.
FiuMare was developed in response to a clear need for more engaging, action-oriented environmental education for youth, as well as stronger links between knowledge and concrete environmental action. NMF and ReMida both observed that many youth had limited understanding of how waste travels through urban environments, rivers and oceans, and that traditional classroom-based learning often failed to create long-term engagement or motivation to act. At the same time, local communities lacked accessible arenas where youth, schools and citizens could participate together in environmental action. There was also a need to strengthen transnational cooperation between organisations working with environmental education, to exchange methods and develop more innovative non-formal learning approaches. Building on earlier project experience, FiuMare was designed to address these needs by combining hands-on clean-up activities with creative, non-formal education in public spaces and schools. The project aimed to empower youth to take action, strengthen green skills, and demonstrate that environmental challenges are shared across borders and require collective solutions.