Helmepa At The Arsakion School At Tirana 11910

10/11/2009 HELMEPA at the Arsakion School at Tirana Invited by the Greek Embassy in Albania and sponsored by Alpha Bank, an Associate Corporate member of HELMEPA, the Hellenic Marine Environment Protection Association, a member of the staff of the Association presented the issue of the protection of the marine environment to the Tirana Arsakion School students' community on November 5 and 6, 2009. A total of 400 Elementary, High School and Lyceum pupils and 12 teachers were informed in two lectures in the Greek language of the protection of the marine environment and the coast as well as of HELMEPA's aims and activities. These activities are focused on the relationship "Man - Environment" and are implemented through the voluntary commitment of members of the Greek maritime community. The Association's mandate continues being to instill and nurture environmental conscious within the industry as well as to environmentally motivate the wider public with the focus on young children, members of HELMEPA Junior. Such objectives are being implemented by similar Associations (MEPAs) for whose creation in other countries HELMEPA has been instrumental. All present at the presentations were given HELMEPA informational material and printed material jointly produced by HELMEPA and UNEP Albanian. During the discussions that followed, the students demonstrated a high level of environmental awareness and expressed their concern about their own marine environment together with their wish to undertake action themselves. Similar was the interest students and educators shown for the HELMEPA Junior Programme, whilst a number of older children asked to participate in "HELMEPA Cadets", the new category of the Association's volunteer members. We would like to thank the Greek Embassy in Albania, Alpha Bank and Commander HCG, N. Skevofilax, Liaison Officer at the Embassy, for helping materialize HELMEPA's presence at Tirana.