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Italian Students Become "Guardians Of The Coast" With Costa Crociere Foundation

A citizen science projectpromoted by Costa Crociere Foundation, in collaboration with MIUR, OLPA and theSchool of Robotics in Genoa, involving more than 200 Italian high schools. Itsaim is to make students and citizens in general aware about preserving thenatural beauty of Italy's coastline, as well as raising awareness about theproblems deriving from the increase in waste, in particular plastic, along thecoasts, on the beaches and at sea.

Genoa, 22September 2017 – Making young people more aware about protecting the sea and theItalian coastline is the idea behind the "Guardians of the Coast", the citizen science project promoted by CostaCrociere Foundation, which aims to create a long-term environmentalsnapshot of Italy's coastline, from Liguria to Friuli Venezia Giulia, as wellas Sardinia and Sicily, with the active participation of teachers and studentsfrom over 200 Italian high schools.

"Guardians of the Coast" issupported by the Italian Ministry ofEducation, Universities and Research (MIUR), which signed a Memorandum ofUnderstanding with Costa Crociere Foundation and the School of Robotics in Genoa (available on# as part ofthe National Plan to Digitalize Schools (Piano Nazionale per la Scuola Digitale- PNSD). The MoU is aimed at developing an innovative didactic project, focusedon environmental sustainability and social use of new technologies, in order tofight school abandonment, support inclusion, integration and promote consciousand ethical use of new technologies.

In the school year that has just begun, thehigh schools that take part in the project, on a voluntary basis and totallyfree, will "adopt" a stretch of Italian coastline where they willrecord observations and take measurements. The project is aimed at students andteachers of the final three years of high schools throughout Italy. Thepre-registration form is now available on the website www.guardianidellacosta.it.

Teachers and students will have access to adedicated online platform offering teaching materials such as webcasts,information files and video tutorials specifically designed for the project incollaboration with OLPA- OsservatorioLigure Pesca e Ambiente (Liguria cooperative consortium of marinescientists, science communicators, scuba operators and environmentaltechnicians) and the School of Robotics Associationin Genoa, with the support of a scientific committee. In keeping with theconcept of "citizen science", the content will be scientificallyprecise but designed to be easily accessible and understandable by a non-expertgeneral public. The teaching units involve three areas of interest: Mediterraneanmarine environment, biodiversity and protection of the coast and sea; climatechange, alien species, the impact of climate on the marine environment;pollution and waste in the sea, the use of the coastal marine environment byhumans, and technological initiatives to reduce waste.

The online and classroom training course willbe complemented by field activities, during which the relevant portion of thecoastline will be monitored, by examining indicators of environmental quality,the main features of the coastal environment, and certain socio-economicaspects relating to the management of coastline and its resources. Scientificobservation and monitoring activities will be supported by a specially created free app for Android and iOs devices.The data and photos taken by participants using the app will be validated byexperts and fed into an easily accessible database that can be used to comparelong-term results. This key resource will then form the basis of theme-based maps describing the state ofItaly's coastline, from the perspective of the very people on the pollutionfrontline: students and citizens, in other words the real Guardians of theCoast.

Teachers who participate in the initialworkshop and make use of the online teaching units will receive a certificatefrom the School of Robotics training institute accredited by the MIUR and thiswill count towards their hours of professional retraining. Students whoparticipate in "Guardians of the Coast" can count it as analternating school-work project.

The project will end with a national event,during which the results of the schoolchildren's activities will be presentedand the most deserving class will win a group cruise in the Mediterranean onboard a Costa Cruises ship.

For further information and to pre-enrol yourschool in the project, please visit the website www.guardianidellacosta.it

For additional information:

Costa Cruises

Gabriele Baroni – Communication Director – mob. +39 349 7668013 -baroni@costa.it

Davide Barbano – Media Relations Manager – mob. +39 334 6525216 - barbano@costa.it

Press releases and photos are available at www.costapresscenter.com

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