"<< Objectives >>The University of Research, Memory and Commitment ""Rossella Casini"" (UNIRIMI) was born within the ODV San Benedetto from the need to create a training place to offer the opportunity to deepen the phenomenon of mafias and in particular of 'Ndrangheta, under different aspects: the historical, anthropological, sociological, ecclesiological, as well as juridical and economic. The university is located on a confiscated property in Limbadi (VV) where it offers paths of ethical development, social entrepreneurship, resilience, legality and social inclusion of vulnerable categories and conducts scientific research on the criminal phenomenon in the EU. After the success of the Erasmus 2021-1-IT03-KA152-YOU- 000010746 project held in May 2022 in Limbadi entitled ""REACTIVATE"" which involved 39 participants from Holland, Romania, Cyprus, Croatia, Greece, Turkey strongly interested in the topic of eco-mafias and how they act in Europe and in the world, bringing harmful effects to the environment, our association, collecting the requests and needs of the participants, has decided to deal with a new issue, namely the pollution of the sea and oceans caused by mafia action. Indeed, according to Catherine De Bolle, effective director of Europol: ""Marine pollution is a serious threat, which endangers not only the environment but also our health and, in the long term, our economy"". marine pollution, Interpol, Europol and Frontex coordinated the ""30 days at sea"" operation. The interventions led to the identification of numerous crimes ranging from illegal.dumping to trafficking in waste and the investigation of thousands of suspects around the world. The numbers of the operation (Europol data) are chilling: 34 thousand inspections at sea and inland waterways, coastal areas, and ports; 1,600 marine pollution offenses detected in total; 500 illegal acts of pollution committed at sea, including oil discharges, illegal ship scrapping and sulfur emissions from ships; 1,000 pollution offenses in coastal areas and rivers, including illegal discharges of contaminants; 130 cases of waste trafficking through ports. The inspections uncovered typical forms of marine pollution crime. From ship discharges to the traffic of waste by sea. But the pandemic, including disposable items like masks and gloves and medical waste, has heightened criminal tendencies. Furthermore, thanks to local authorities, investigators discovered an important criminal network that dealt with plastic waste between Europe and Asia. But more importantly, they prevented thousands of tons of scrap from being illegally shipped across the planet. Where it is most likely contaminated thesoil and generates a significant amount of marine litter. Contaminated or mixed metal waste has been falsely declared as metal waste. Namibia, the Philippines, and Croatia also reported cases of illegal waste shipments from Europe.17 were the EU Member States: Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Sweden to participate in the operation against the spill of marine litter at sea Pollutionoriginates mainly due to ship traffic, the washing of holds, the sulfur content in fuels used and spilled into the sea. But no less serious is the impact of land and river pollution on the marine environment. During the operation, the military noted the inadequacy of purification plants, the presence of illegal water discharges, and the abandonment of large quantities of improperly treated waste on the territory. All the elements have a decisive effect on the presence of plastics and microplastics in the sea. From the aforementioned data and from the comparisons with the participants in the project, the objective of this project was born, that is to make them more aware and sensitized on the problem since the reduction of waste and environmental impact does not only pass through advanced disposal models and results. eco-sustainable, but also in the contrast to the trafficking of criminal organizations to sensitization of political decision-makers on the problem. The project, therefore, wants on the one hand to sensitize young people and make them more aware of the problem, but on the other hand, it wants to offer narration of the people opportunities for reuse of assets confiscated from things through the knowledge of virtuous networks of entrepreneurs, associations present throughout Europe (such as Libera) and insight into EU policies implemented against the mafia phenomenon. In addition, young people will be offered the opportunity to create a marketing campaign to educate them for the purpose of waste collection on the beaches, through the creation of social profiles.<< Implementation >>Participants must be interested in the issues of sustainable development, eco-mafia, legality, entrepreneurship education, and climate change. This exchange focuses on the discussion on how much the mafias have a negative impact on European countries and how widespread a problem is and not just in Italian. In fact, one of the objectives is to remove the prejudices according to which the 'Ndrangheta is only a southern problem. The project also makes us reflect on how important activecitizenship, education for the legality, and responsibility for every young person can have a positive impact on society through initiatives for the re-use of confiscated assets and new business ideas. in fact, it will be the task of the San Benedetto association to convey that change is possible, but that there is a need for collaboration with the institutions. The groups of participants have formed thanks to the activities of the associations in their territories, and the balance between males and females will be guaranteed in order to avoid gender imbalances. Participants will be young people who have difficulties such as social, economic, cultural, or geographical differences as they come from rural areas. Young people will be selected from among 18-30-year-olds, while the group leader may be over 30 years old. 42 guys will be involved.<< Results >>The target groups and participants are able to: - improve knowledge of the eco-mafia problem; - improve knowledge on the problem of sustainable development and how this is connected with crime and its activities in all countries of the European Union; - improve knowledge and the 2030 agenda on sustainable development and understanding of the objectives proposed by the UN; - improve knowledge of business operation and entrepreneurship education; - improve the knowledgeof useful strategies and solutions against organized crime; - improve the knowledge of the decision-making processes of the European Union, the knowledge of the legislation and the operations of euro-just and Europol; - understand and encourage new friendships, reflect on possible solutions to problems; - develop transversal communication skills, digital skills, problem-solving skills, optimistic vision and resilience; - develop the ability to work in teams and entrepreneurs; - development of thecapacity for active citizenship; - develop a sense of activism; - understand and know knowledge to create a space for intercultural dialogue, diversity and cooperation between participants for future projects; - understand and know the knowledge of a series of tools and to stimulate ideas; - understand and know knowledgeon social inclusion, partnership and solidarity between participating young people and partner organizations; - understand and understand the activities on how to promote the involvement of young people in the Erasmus + projects and framework; Through this youth exchange, the participating organizations will exchange ideas, good practices and future ideas of projects or ways to learn about this topic, writing articles on their blogs, posting short videos from the project and how youngpeople have adopted an approach. more responsible; -improvement of soft skills and emotional intelligence. The expected impact is very important, since there is a mentality according to which the mafia phenomenon is a peculiarity only in Italy and especially in the South. In reality, as the data show, the problem extends to the whole of Europe and too often the states that do not know the phenomenon have inadequate laws to tackle the problem. Therefore, the involvement of local, regional and national political actors / decision makers is very important in order to involve the institutions and raise awareness of the problem. In fact, together with the matured network of partners over time, it is expected to raise awareness at all levels: regional, local and European. The videos and posts produced by young people will serve to raise awareness and promote the problem. Participants involved in the project will be torn in their countries with knowledge, skills, attitudes and behaviors towards the criminal phenomenon and will be able to share everything with their dear friends, colleagues, family and others. In this way the young people will spread through their personal experiences of the project and all the knowledge and skills gathered. They will also be able to encourage greater attention to the problem in their territories. Furthermore, at the end of the project, young people will be able to compose a political proposal that foresees the contrast of the phenomenon of eco-crime in order to have it analyzed by political decision-makers and to trigger a virtuous chain of proposals. Each partner in their country will help the groups of young people drafting the proposals, assisting them with the group leader. The cleaning of the beaches also wants to be an important signal to be shared with all of Europe, through social channels."