The Blue Flag program, headquartered in Copenhagen, Denmark, is operated under the Foundation for Environmental Education. The Blue Flag is a prestigious award given to beaches, marinas and boats that fulfill and maintain a series of strict environmental, educations, safety-related and access-related criteria.
Created in France in 1985, as a pilot scheme from the Office of the Foundation for Environmental Education in Europe, where French coastal municipalities were awarded the Blue Flag on the basis of criteria covering sewage treatment and bathing water quality. In 1987, after the program was presented to the European Commission, it agreed to launch the Blue Flag program as one of several “European Year of the Environment” activities in the community. Leading to the development of the French concept of the Blue Flag on a European level to include other areas of environmental management. Additionally, besides beaches, marinas were also added as eligible to the program. After seeing large amounts of access, the criteria to be awarded the Blue Flag got even more strict and became the same in all participating countries. In 2001, many organisations outside of the European Union also started implementing the program, and there was more allowance for regional variations in beach criteria to reflect the specific environmental conditions of the region. In 2016, the program was further extended to boat-based tourism activities. Currently, there are over 4,154 beaches and marinas that were awarded the Blue Flag with 47 countries participating!
1. Environmental education and information
Information about the coastal zone ecosystems and natural, sensitive areas in the coastal area should be on display as well as information on bathing water quality, about the Blue Flag program and a code of conduct for the beach area. There should be at least 5 environmental education activities offered.
2. Water quality
There are requirements and standards for excellent bathing water quality that must be adhered to. There should be no industrial or sewage related discharges affecting the beach area and the health of coral reefs located in the vicinity of the beach should be constantly monitored.
3. Environmental management
There must be a management committee that is in charge of instituting environmental management systems and conducting regular environmental audits of the beach facility. The beach must be clean, disposal bins must be easily accessible, clean sanitary facilities should be provided, all equipment properly maintained, promotion of a sustainable means of transportation and regulation concerning domestic animals on the beach must be strictly enforced.
4. Safety and services
There should be enough lifeguards and lifesaving equipment available, the different users and uses of the beach should be managed in order to prevent conflicts and accidents. An emergency plan should be in place to cope with pollution safety risks. Drinking water must be supplied on the beach and there should be a map of the beach.
The Blue Flag programs mission is to promote and participate in environmental education programs for the users of the beaches, marinas, and boating operators. They want to implement safety and environmental management systems while also monitoring environmental conditions to make sure that the impact of human activity is reduced. Their main goal is to promote sustainability in the tourism sector.
