The Euro barometer survey published in January 2018, revealed that three in ten respondents (31%) say they have been involved in organised voluntary activities in 2017. The respondents (49%) are most likely to think the EU should take action to encourage young people to express solidarity in the protection of the environment and nature. Only 1%, from the  Maltese respondents have participated in an activity of an organisation in the domain of climate change or environmental issues.

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Protecting our Future! project will take place at Lunzjata valley in Gozo. The aim of our project isn't only about cleaning up waste, but also to unite the community, raise awareness and implement true change to achieve our final goal:a clean and healthy planet.

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Unfortunately the balanced ecosystem is facing threats especially recently with the introduction, of alien species such as the castor oil plant and freshwater crayfish which are competing with the local flora and fauna.This is resulting in disastrous effects for the native species. In addition, a lot of plastic and other litter is ending up in the water course, causing further negative environmental impact. 

When planning our project, we focused on what we would like to achieve, namely the: 

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1. promotion of community work: our objective is to valorise, promote and develop volunteering in order to encourage participation and commitment from the general public. We need to engage the local community members in learning about and understanding the community issues ( economic, social, environmental and other impacts associated with alternative courses of action).

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2. raising awareness on the environment: The locals have little or not at all knowledge of the importance of our environment for our future. By promoting environmental awareness we want to create an easy way to become environmental steward and participate in creating a brighter future for tomorrow. This project will help to educate the public on the importance of this topic and to understand the fragility of our environment and the importance of its protection. By informing our friends and family that the physical environment is fragile and indispensable we can begin fixing the problems that threaten it.  The current EU policy on the environment is based on the 7th Environment Action Programme which is a the dual responsibility of the EU institutions and national governments.

The objectives that have been set by ourselves for this project are to:
-improve the ability to plan, implement and evaluate awareness campaigns on environment; 
-increase the knowledge on climate action, environment and nature protection; 
-instill a sense of voluntary service within the community;
-instill a sense of awareness to plastic reduction and recycling;
-strengthen additional skills such as:communication, self- confidence,team work, decision-making, and organisational skills.

At the end of this project, we are expected to have been impacted as per below:
-to learn how to work in a teamwork and to express their opinions;
-empowered to express ourselves;
-to learn more on project cycle;
-to learn how to do new sports such as abseiling;
-become aware of key issues in regards to the environmental, human and alien species' impact.

On the other hand, from this project the local community is expected to be impacted, mainly the:
-awareness campaigns aimed at school children 
- production of educational materils

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This project contributes to a specific objective of the Solidarity Projects, namely; 
"to promote young people with the support of the participating organisations, with easily accessible opportunities for engagement in solidarity activities effecting positive societal change, while improving their skills and competences for personal, educational, social, civic, cultural and professional development..."