In Marseille, cleaning operations to protect the ecosystem of the Calanques

It’s a bit like the spillway of Marseille. The Calanque de Cortiou, located in the heart of the Calanques National Park, has been severely degraded over the years. The fault of discharges from the Phocaean city’s wastewater treatment plant and waste from clandestine parties organized on site.

Faced with this environmental danger, members of the association “Les Excursionnistes Marseillais” have organized cleaning operations to recover the waste and polluting products that soil the site.

Apart from summer excursions and other hikes, the local association, which has existed for 125 years now, is mobilizing for the preservation of the local environment. The last action of the volunteers took place on March 29 at the Cortiou site with the collection of more than 5000 liters of pollutants in just one day. “It’s a tribute to the Calanques what we do, we want them to be beautiful… they bring us so much pleasure”, exclaims an excursionist.

In parallel with these operations and in order to preserve the beauty of the Calanques National Park, which is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year, the local authorities have decided to set up an online reservation system this spring. The goal is to limit the influx of visitors to the Calanque de Sugiton, one of the busiest. Only 400 to 600 people per day can now access it, compared to 2,000 previously during peak times.