MedSkyTour – Interreg Euro-MED – Co-funded by the European Union

MedSkyTour Starlight Toolbox

Protect your night sky, grow astrotourism

Free, practical tools for Mediterranean regions, municipalities, parks and tourism businesses to cut light pollution – tested in seven partner regions.

Start the self-assessment Download the full toolbox (PDF)

Start here: I am a…

A suggested path for a municipality – from a first night walk to a signed commitment:

  1. 1A · Assess Run the quick check Answer eight questions on how your area is lit.
  2. 2C · Measure Light only what is needed The cheapest first step: switch off what has no purpose.
  3. 3D · Practice See the Jelsa guidelines How a Croatian municipality turned good lighting into local rules.
  4. 4E · Commit Sign a letter of intent Tell us you will use the toolbox.

Five modules, one toolbox

A Know your night sky Five-step self-assessment of sky quality, rules and lighting B Set the right standards What to require: three questions, five lighting zones MZ0–MZ4, limit values C Choose your measures Measure cards filtered by who you are and what to change D Learn from the Mediterranean Nine partner practices – what they did and learned E · coming soon Make it happen Step-by-step pathway, funding, templates, letter of intent

Why it matters

85%+

of the Euro-MED territory is affected by artificial light at night

60%

of Europeans cannot see the Milky Way from their home

99%+

of people living in Europe are under light-polluted skies

7

partner regions have assessed their skies with this toolbox

Sources: MedSkyTour D3.1.1 Starlight Self-Assessment Guide (citing Falchi et al. 2016; Widmer et al. 2022) and D3.1.2 Starlight Assessment for Partner Regions.

Three things you can do this month

No new law, little or no budget.

1 Take a night walk Print the checklist, walk your town after dark and note the worst lights.
2 Switch off decorative lighting at night Set a switch-off hour for floodlit monuments and façades, as Jelsa and Lazio do. Light only what is needed → 3 Fix your next tender Write “0% upward light, ≤3000 K, dimmable” into the next public-lighting purchase. Fully shielded luminaires →

Tested in seven territories

Seven partner territories assessed their night skies and lighting rules (D.3.1.2) and are testing the toolbox. Select a territory on the map to see where it starts from and what it has already done.

Map of the Euro-MED area with the seven MedSkyTour partner territories marked Map data: Natural Earth
SI · Slovenia Partner: BSC Kranj

Gorenjska region

Lighting rules today

A national decree since 2007 sets limits, including 0% upward light for luminaires; a revised regulation was put to public consultation in 2025.

From the regional assessment

Skies of genuine darkness remain, e.g. at the Vršič pass. At a church in Slovenia, four 400 W floodlights were replaced by two masked LED units of 58 W in total: façade luminance fell from 10.03 to 0.62 cd/m².

Source: Starlight Guidelines D.3.2.1, sections 3.4, 4.2 and 5, citing the Gorenjska regional assessment (D.3.1.2).

Commit to darker skies

Tell us your authority will use the toolbox. Sign a short letter of intent and join the Mediterranean regions and municipalities already taking action.

[X]

authorities have committed so far

Downloads

In your language

Short summaries for local and regional authorities

About the toolbox

The Starlight Toolbox is Output 3.3 of MedSkyTour – Development of Sustainable Astrotourism in Euro-MED Regions, an Interreg Euro-MED project (Greener MED, specific objective 2.7, Sustainable Tourism mission). It was developed by the nine project partners; the toolbox activity (A3.3) is led by the Region of Western Greece and the project by BSC Kranj.

Contact: [toolbox contact email]

Partners

BSC Kranj (SI) ISD PI RERA SD (HR) I.C.E. (HR) Province of Teruel (ES) ADRAL (PT) CTDC (ME) Regione Lazio (IT) Region of Western Greece (EL)