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Rabat – Princess Lalla Hasna has given awards to 24 projects and initiatives related to ocean and coastal environmentalism, including an educational YouTube channel.
The initiatives each received a Lalla Hasna Sustainable Coast Trophy on Wednesday, November 13, in Bouknadel, a city north of Rabat.
Lalla Hasna, a younger sister of King Mohammed VI, presented her trophy prizes to projects in five different categories: Clean beaches, living environment, protection of natural heritage, education and youth, and environmental responsibility of organizations.
While students and researchers were eligible to win the prizes, the princess awarded eight projects sponsored by business conglomerates and government agencies. Smaller companies, associations, and a foundation won 11 prizes.
Only three university departments won trophies. In the category of “natural heritage protection,” the Mohamed I University in Oujda won an award for its work on algae in the Mediterranean. The Department of Sciences in El Jadida earned a trophy for its research on the Japanese sargassum algae.
In the “education and youth” category, Cadi Ayyad University’s campus in the coastal city of Safi won a trophy for organizing an “Ocean Sciences Forum.”
Recognizing how many youth educate themselves, the Sustainable Coast jury also awarded an “education and youth” trophy to a YouTube channel, “The Protectors of Nature” by Soufiane Hafidi.
Municipalities were also eligible to receive prizes, but Agadir was the only municipality to receive a trophy. Agadir’s awareness-raising and environmental education activities earned a trophy in the environmental responsibility category.
One entity outshone its competition by winning two trophies. The Association of Champions of Fnideq for underwater sports and the protection of the environment won an “environmental responsibility” prize for its “Our Cleanest Beach” initiative. It also won a prize under the “living environment” category for its “Everyone protect our maritime heritage” project.
Princess Lalla Hasna called for Morocco to mobilize against the plastic garbage that has accumulated in Earth’s oceans. The ceremony marked the third year that the princess has awarded the Lalla Hasna Sustainable Coasts trophies.
The jury awarded trophies not only to projects that benefit the environment, but also those that enable society to appreciate the environment. In Laayoune, the Association in Support of Disabled People won an award for its project “Foum El Oued Beach is Open for All.”
Read also: Morocco’s Princess Lalla Hasna Reviews Progress of Air-Climate, Eco-Schools Program
At the trophy ceremony, attendees watched a documentary about the ocean and plastic waste. The Mohammed VI Foundation for Environment Protection, under the chairmanship of Lalla Hasna, has promoted the hashtag “b7arblaplastic” (Ocean Without plastic), and the documentary narrated the hashtag’s impact.
With 3,500 kilometers of coastline, Morocco’s future is entwined with the ocean.
