Online Kick-off Meeting of the easyPEST Project Successfully Conducted
The official kick-off meeting for the “easyPEST” project was held online on April 2, 2026. This innovative initiative, dedicated to establishing a long-term monitoring and early warning system for invasive forest pests across the Black Sea Basin, brought together project partners from Türkiye, Greece and Georgia in a virtual environment to initiate the 18-month challenging roadmap.
Co-funded by the European Union under the Interreg NEXT Black Sea Basin Programme, easyPEST addresses environmental and economic threats through its AI-powered platform. During the online sessions, representatives from Giresun Governorship (Lead Partner), the Hellenic Agricultural Organization – DIMITRA (Greece), Ilia State University (Georgia) and Trabzon University (Türkiye) coordinated their strategies for AI-based pest identification and ecological modeling.
The virtual meeting focused on bridging communication gaps between transnational forestry and agricultural departments. By creating a shared, real-time data repository, the project aims to safeguard regional biodiversity and support local farmers and stakeholders against the impact of climate change and global trade.
For further updates on our progress and the upcoming easyPEST smartphone application, please follow the official social media channels of our partner organizations as well as the projects’ official site (www.easypest.org).