The ECO YOGA SURF blog is back! And it’s kicking off with a report from the Ocean Decade Conference in Barcelona!
In April 2024, the UN Ocean Decade Conference, along with Ocean Decade Week, took place in Barcelona, Spain. As someone involved in the Decade across a few levels, this was an incredible opportunity to participate in the conference, as well as the on-and-off site satellite events happening around the city. It was also my first in person event as a communications consultant for IOC-UNESCO, for the Early Career Ocean Professionals Programme, and I finally had the chance to meet colleagues I have been working with remotely, for over 2 years.
During the week, I was lucky enough to join the Waterbreak session, hosted by Finisterre, Seatrees and Protect Blue (and my good friend and all round good human Linzi Hawkin). Waterbreaks enable conference goers (who are generally scientists, researchers, policy makers, NGO’s employees, Intergovernmental orgs. but also students, plus people working in the private sector, media and ) to access the blue spaces around conference locations. Waterbreaks debuted at the 2022 UN Ocean Conference in Lisbon, and this year the newly endorsed Ocean decade Activity provided SUP’s and wetsuits for folks to jump in the water before or after a busy day networking, discussing, presenting and collaborating in Barcelona.
With the ECOP Programme co-hosting 5 events throughout Ocean Decade Week, it was the perfect window for a well-needed dip in the Mediterranean sea and a long exhale. A bit of “blue mind” moment amidst the chaos of an International event.
Even more special, is that on our session, we were joined by Surfing for Science, a citizen science project founded and run by the Marine Geosciences research group at University of Barcelona, Surfrider Foundation Europe (in Spain) and its volunteers in Barcelona, and led by Professor Anna Sànchez Vidal, Marine Biogeochemist at University of Barcelona.
Surfing for Science’s researcher Oriol led the session and introduced the group to the scientific methodology they use for sampling marine microplastics - a surf manta! - and we were able to use the manta trawl whilst SUPing, to learnt how to monitor near shore areas using their specific protocol. Already established as successful citizen science programme across the whole of Spain, with several scientific publications, Surfing for Science have reported more than 100,000 microplastic fragments collected by citizen scientists since the project started in 2019!
Oriol Photo by: Luke Hosty / Protect Blue
Many years before, whilst sailing with eXXpedition to the Azores and taking part in my first citizen science project, also about microplastic accumulation, I wondered how the manta trawl we were using on the 64ft(?) sailboat might be adapted for a surfing situation. Here I was five years later; learning about a team of amazing scientists who had already built the prototype and were collecting and analyzing data using it (and also joined by fellow eXXpedition ambassador Juliana Corales)!!
I was grateful to be able to ask Anna more questions about the project during the panel I was moderating on Ocean Literacy and Water sports for an event later that day. You can watch the livestream of the event below. (Anna’s Panel is @ 1hr 47min)
Marine citizen science fits into the objectives of the Decade in a few ways, but primarily it is working towards Challenge 10: Change humanity’s relationship with the Ocean.
One way to help the human-ocean relationship develop in a more positive direction - less extraction and exploitation, and more awareness and care for this global ecosystem that truly sustains us.
Citizen scientists collaborate with researchers not only to collect data and advance scientific knowledge, but they do it to increase the protection of the local marine environments they treasure. It’s another way of being a custodian for these places, because, as they continue to be impacted from human pressures, we need to know what is happening and how to deal with these changes, and we need to come up with solutions with the communities they affect the most.
Juliana and I ready to paddle out. Photo by: Luke Hosty / Protect Blue
There are plenty of citizen science projects all over the world, but even citizen science is developing to become more participant or community led. And the Decade for Ocean Science is really championing and supporting co-designed projects, whereby communities and scientists are working together, and bridging the gap between science in the field and science in the lab.
So what is the Decade?
The UN Decade of Ocean Science (Ocean Decade or UNDOS) is a global initiative to unlock transformative ocean science solutions for sustainable development, connecting people and our ocean. Its essentially pinpointing the exact areas we need to achieve more scientific understand of how our ocean works, in times of accelerated change, in order to reach the targets of UN Sustainable Development Goal 14: Life Below Water.
And what is the vision of the ocean that the Ocean Decade is working towards?
It’s an ocean that is clean, healthy and resilient, productive, predicted, safe, accessible, inspiring and engaging.
What’s my role in it all?
I work within the ECOP Programme core team, as communications coordinator, I’m also a member of the UK’s National Decade Committee plus I am coordinator of the Ocean Decade Project: Citizens of Surf, which is finding pathways for surfers to become marine citizen scientists.
What was the whole point of the Conference?
The Conference brought together the global Ocean Decade community and partners to celebrate and take stock of progress, and set joint priorities for the future - what is known as the 2030 vision process. This is identifying shat we want to achieve and how we will achieve it before the end of the Decade.
So what next?
Keep working tirelessly!
There were so many positive outcomes and announcements at the Conference; young people, BIPOC and Indigenous leaders were also a big part of the discussions, which is a key development within Ocean Science. Yet there is much more to do to build a more harmonious relationship between humans and Ocean. Read about the outcomes of the conference and the Barcelona statement here.
The next UN Ocean Conference will take place in June 2025 in Nice, France - and this is where we should be hearing about the plastics treaty, a ban of bottom trawling and the high seas treaty being ratified...we have many instruments to help protect our ocean more, now we just need to work together to implement them.
Photos by: Luke Hosty / Protect Blue