1. How to promote sustainable tourism in the Black Sea region?
– promoting slow tourism to the natural reserve areas could alleviate some of the negative impact of this economic activity on local populations as it would encourage tourists to spend longer amounts of time in that region, drive slower boats (i.e. less polluting), and give them a change to engage with the local communities and manage their own trash
– There are several tensions embedded in these situations, each which require deliberation and citizens involvement in sorting out how both of these can be solved in a way that promotes general wellbeing: environmental, social and economic development
– local communities from this region are exposed to pollution resulting from the fast tourism culture here and the natural reserves in the area, which form part of its richness, are affected from year to year
2. How to fight energy poverty at local (Constanta), national (Romania) and EU level?
– due to the remote location of many communities, there are not enough structures in place to engage and deal systematically with those experiencing energy poverty
– it is a region which comprises of communities at high risk to poverty and consequently, of energy poverty, in accordance with the EU Energy Poverty Observatory. Therefore those two issues go ahnd in hand
– creating a local solidarity fund to support individuals and families struggling with energy poverty, which could be partly financed by the EU and partly managed by the local taxes paid here