Workshops
Workshop 5: Challenges & Tools for Active Citizens
Burnout, conflict, boundaries and feedback: through role play and reflection, participants explored what exhausts a group, what makes it resilient — and one small, feasible next step.
News & Events
Stories, events and progress from Guardians of the Coasts in Greece and Portugal.
Workshops
Workshop 4: Collaboration Tools for Activists
For a local group in formation: what each person wants, can offer and fears — and how differences become a shared way of working built on trust.
Workshops
Workshop 3: Beaches: From Collective Memory to a Shared Vision
What is worth carrying from the beaches of yesterday to the beaches of tomorrow? Participants moved from shared memories to a common vision for the coast.
Workshops
Workshop 2: Beaches as Landmarks of Our Lives
Using narrative inquiry, participants explored how specific beaches have shaped their lives and identities — and why the places we love become the places we want to protect.
Workshops
Workshop 1: Sharing Stories from Our Beaches
The project’s first educational action: active citizens shared how their initiatives were born and evolved, turning personal stories into shared knowledge and a stronger sense of community.
Meetings & study visit
Different Paths, One Common Future: What the Guardians of the Coasts Partners Discovered Through Their Meetings in Greece
Local government, scientists, lawyers and active citizens: in Greece, the Guardians of the Coasts partners discovered that coastal protection is born when different forms of knowledge and action come together.
Meetings & study visit
When Active Citizenship Becomes an Everyday Presence
The Guardians of the Coasts partners visited the permanent watch post of the “Free Beaches” citizens’ movement at Glystra, Lagonisi, and saw how love for a place becomes a daily act of responsibility.
Meetings & study visit
Protecting the Sea Begins When We Get to Know It – Project Partners Meet Activists from the Diveness Diving Centre
The Guardians of the Coasts partners met diving instructors Angeliki Spanea and Giannis Angelakos at Diveness and learned about thirteen years of volunteer seabed and beach clean-ups.
Meetings & study visit
Coasts as Carriers of Memory, Identity and Active Citizenship
The partners met Zacharo Fratzeskou of “Fokaeon Politeia”: coasts are not only natural ecosystems but also carriers of historical memory, culture and collective identity.
Meetings & study visit
Education as the Starting Point of Active Citizenship
The Guardians of the Coasts partners met educator and volunteer coordinator Anastasia Ioannidou, who spoke about education, personal responsibility and volunteering as the foundations of active citizenship.
Meetings & study visit
When Diversity Becomes Cooperation
Fotoessa and the Portuguese partners met activist Christos Kotsireas, a member of the Free Beaches Movement, to explore what brings people with different experiences together around a common purpose.
Meetings & study visit
Knowledge as a Precondition for Active Citizenship
How can citizens defend a right if they do not know they have it? The project partners met Gavriil Kokkinis, President of the Saronikos Youth Municipal Council, to discuss the right of free access to the coast.
Meetings & study visit
Partners Meet Lawyer and Environmental Activist Antonis Sifakis
Fotoessa and the Portuguese partners Impactrip and Aequalitas met lawyer Antonis Sifakis to discuss the legal framework protecting the Greek foreshore and beaches, and the role citizens can play in protecting the coast.
Meetings & study visit
Partners Meet Climatologist and Activist Dr Iasonas Markantonis
Fotoessa and the Portuguese partners met climatologist Dr Iasonas Markantonis to discuss the challenges facing the coasts of Greece and Portugal: overdevelopment, unchecked tourism and free access to beaches.
Meetings & study visit
Partners Meet the Deputy Mayor for Tourism of the Municipality of Saronikos
Fotoessa and the Portuguese partners met Deputy Mayor for Tourism Viktoria Simitzi Mykoniati to discuss sustainable tourism, coastal protection and cooperation between local stakeholders in Saronikos.
Meetings & study visit
Partners Meet the Mayor of Saronikos on Free Access to Beaches
Fotoessa and the Portuguese partners from Aequalitas and Impactrip met the Mayor of Saronikos, Dimitris Papachristou, to discuss protecting the coastal environment and safeguarding citizens’ free access to beaches.
Meetings & study visit
Meeting at HCMR – Science and Active Citizenship for Coastal Protection
The Fotoessa team and our Portuguese partners visited the Hellenic Centre for Marine Research to discuss coastal erosion, Posidonia meadows and the role of active citizens in protecting the coasts.
Meetings & study visit
Our Portuguese Partners Visit Greece
A week of synergy and active citizenship: Fotoessa hosted the Portuguese partners for meetings with scientists, local government, volunteers and citizens' movements working to protect the coasts.
Events & research
Training and Participation in City Nature Challenge 2026 with HCMR
Fotoessa took part in City Nature Challenge 2026 with the Hellenic Centre for Marine Research (HCMR), with field training and two coastal biodiversity bioblitzes at the Anavyssos Salt Pans and Pefko Beach.
Events & research
Interview with the Mayor of Saronikos as Part of Our Qualitative Research
Saronikos Mayor Dimitris Papachristou speaks to the Guardians of the Coasts qualitative research on coastal protection and free access: “The constitutional protection exists, but in practice it is circumvented.”
Events & research
Briefing Meeting with Saronikos Active Citizens on the Coastal Environment and Streams
As the Municipality of Saronikos drafts its Local Urban Plan, Fotoessa joined a meeting of active citizens on local streams, beaches and the archaeological monuments of the coastal zone.
Events & research
Talk by Activist and Author Giannis Makridakis
Fotoessa attended a talk in Palaia Fokaia by author and activist Giannis Makridakis on our vital relationship with the natural environment and on mobilising citizens to protect it.
Project news
Launch of the “Guardians of the Coasts” Erasmus+ Programme
Fotoessa announces the launch of the Erasmus+ project “Guardians of the Coasts”, uniting Greece and Portugal to protect the coastal environment and safeguard free, equal access to the sea for all.
