Serena, Author at Decade of the Sea

What is the Treaty for the Protection of the High Seas?

Posted on 17 August 2022 - 10:56 am by Serena

Starting today, for a week, world leaders are meeting at the United Nations headquarters in New York to negotiate a treaty to protect the ocean, the “Treaty for the Protection of the High Seas” (UN High Seas Treaty). The occasion is the fifth session of the Intergovernmental Conference on Marine Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ).

The High Seas is the area of sea that is beyond the national Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) – beyond 200 nautical miles from the coast, if the States have declared the EEZ – and occupies about two-thirds of the ocean. This area is part of international waters, therefore outside national jurisdictions, where all States have the right to fish, navigate and carry out research, for example. At the same time, the High Seas plays a vital role in supporting fishing activities, in providing habitats for species crucial to the health of the planet and in mitigating the impact of the climate crisis.

At the same time, no government is taking responsibility for the protection and sustainable management of the High Seas resources, which makes these areas vulnerable. As a result, some of the most important ecosystems on the planet are at risk, resulting in the loss of biodiversity and habitat. It is estimated that between 10% and 15% of marine species are already at risk of extinction.

One of the goals of the treaty is to reverse the trend of declining ocean health and loss of biodiversity and ecosystems for future generations and for coastal populations who depend on the sea for food and livelihoods, income and recreation.

The dialogue for the Treaty for the Protection of the High Seas will end on August 26 and represents the second moment in 2022 to find common ground for the ocean. The first opportunity was in late June in Lisbon during the United Nations Conference on the Ocean.

Why is the Treaty for the Protection of the High Seas important?

About 70% of the ocean is the High Seas, the last wilderness and not properly regulated area on the planet. The marine life that lives in these areas is at risk of exploitation, extinction and is vulnerable to the growing threats of the climate crisis, overfishing and maritime traffic.
Because the ecosystems in the High Seas are poorly documented, researchers fear that organisms could become extinct before they are discovered. This prevents them from properly studying the rates of biodiversity loss on the planet, developing increasingly accurate forecasting models and accessing new opportunities for the pharmaceutical and cosmetics industries.

To date, the management of activities at sea and the protection of marine biodiversity are regulated by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), signed in 1982 and amended by 158 Member States. This Convention has limitations, especially on issues relating to the High Seas and the protection of biodiversity.

United Nations Member States, NGOs, scientists and researchers believe this is a crucial moment for the definition of a Treaty for the High Seas that will determine the future of the ocean, especially with regard to the management of its resources. During previous negotiations, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) stated that the “traditional fragmented nature of ocean governance” has prevented effective protection of the High Seas.

The Treaty for the Protection of the High Seas has been under negotiation for years, but Member States have not yet managed to find an agreement. The aim now is to make the treaty legally binding. For this reason, at least 49 countries, including the United Kingdom and the European Union countries, have declared that they will do more to reach an agreement.

Eliann Dipp_Pexels_Trattato di Alto Mare — Eliann Dipp da Pexels

What are the highlights of the Treaty of the High Seas?

In recent decades, the advancement of technology and innovative instruments have made the High Seas increasingly accessible and, consequently, its resources increasingly easily extractable. For this reason too, it is important to support this historic regulation with a more current, holistic instrument that includes laws to protect the High Seas and the biodiversity that lies beyond the borders of national jurisdiction.

One of the most ambitious goals of the Treaty for the Protection of the High Seas is to protect 30% of the ocean by 2030 through the creation of a network of Marine Protected Areas. Currently, only 1.2% of the ocean is under total protection.

About two years ago, fifty States declared their commitment to achieving the goal of protecting 30% of the planet’s lands and seas. But without an agreement, these commitments have no legal basis in the High Seas.

Furthermore, environmental impact assessments will have to be carried out before commercial activities in the High Seas, such as deep-sea mineral and resource extraction, are authorised.

Finally, the negotiation provides an opportunity to discuss the protection of marine biodiversity and migratory species; the management of research into marine genetic resources that may have commercial or scientific value for the development of drugs, vaccines and other pharmaceutical, chemical and cosmetic applications; the sharing of common goods; and the benefits of knowledge and technology transfer.

An agreement on the Treaty on the Protection of the High Seas contributes significantly to the achievement of the targets of Sustainable Development Goal 14 of the United Nations 2030 Agenda.

Obiettivo di Sviluppo Sostenibile 14_Decennio del Mare — Credit: Matt Curnock / Ocean Image Bank

In support of the High Seas Treaty

Peter Thomson, UN Special Envoy for the Ocean, expressed hope for the success of the negotiations on CBS News:

Following the great successes achieved this year for ocean health at the United Nations Environment Assembly in Nairobi (UNNEA 5) on marine plastic pollution, the World Trade Organization Ministerial Conference in Geneva on excluding subsidies for harmful fishing practices, and the United Nations Ocean Conference (UNOC) in Lisbon, I am confident that Member States will ride the wave of positive progress in 2022 towards ocean health by concluding a treaty for the High Seas in New York this month.
Peter Thomson, United Nations Special Envoy for the Ocean

Ocean advocate Molly Powers-Tora reiterated the historic importance of these negotiations:

This week, all eyes are on the United Nations to see if we can reach consensus on an international agreement that will allow us to protect and sustainably manage our ocean for future generations.
Molly Powers-Tora, Ocean Advocate

Miguel de Serpa Sorares, who delivered an opening speech to kick off the negotiations proclaimed:

Given the dire state of the world’s oceans, the time to act is now. How better to express our resolve to act than by concluding a resilient agreement that ensures the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity in the global ocean.
Miguel de Serpa Sorares, Under-Secretary-General for Legal Affairs and UN Legal Counsel

Bibliografia:

What is bluewashing? How can we recognize it?

Posted on 26 July 2022 - 9:47 am by Serena

Che cos'è il bluewashing_Decennio del Mare

The term greenwashing is now part of our daily lives, but what is happening to the ocean? Do we really know what greenwashing is? What about bluewashing? And are we able to recognize them and stay away?

We hear a lot about greenwashing, literally “cleansing one’s conscience by doing something green”. This Anglo-Saxon term defines the so-called “ecology or environmentalism of facade“.
The term greenwashing comes from the figurative expression whitewashing, commonly used to indicate an attempt to hide the truth to protect or improve the reputation of organizations, companies, products.

So, what is bluewashing?

Bluewashing is the same as greenwashing, but it affects all the “blue” parts of the planet and the organisms that inhabit them: oceans, seas, rivers, lakes.

An increasingly warm and acidic ocean, loss of biodiversity and consequently more extreme weather events such as droughts, fires, floods and hurricanes, are the first signs of the advancement of the climate crisis. We do not have much time to act. For this reason, as the Secretary General of the United Nations stated at the beginning of 2022, we cannot afford to have greenwashing actions in progress.

The world is in a race against time. We cannot afford to backtrack, make missteps or engage in any form of greenwashing.
We must ensure that zero emissions commitments are ambitious and credible and that they are in line with the highest standards of environmental integrity and transparency. They must also be actionable and take into account different circumstances.
Antonio Guterres, United Nations Secretary General

From Greenwashing to Bluewashing: A Definition of the Most Used Strategies

Greenwashing and bluewashing are marketing and communication strategies implemented by companies, entities, organizations and individuals to convey an image of themselves as environmentally friendly and sustainable. In reality, these strategies only seek to shift the consumer’s attention from the negative impact that the entity involved has on the environment.

A strategy aimed at increasing sales of a product or improving one’s reputation to acquire new customers, increase turnover or become a leader in a certain sector, without actually committing to solving problems and making one’s work virtuous.

In reality, the communication that is carried out often omits important information, which would reveal the true impact of the company or entity on the environment. Generic and poorly defined terms deceive customers into believing that the company is doing more than it actually does.

With the term greenwashing, we refer to actions aimed more at the “green” part of the planet: woods, forests and green spaces in our cities. But we know that the same attention is also deserved by “blue” because 70% of the planet’s surface is covered by water, because the ocean is our greatest ally in mitigating the climate crisis and because our life depends on blue. The ocean, water resources and marine biodiversity are also not strangers to these commercial practices of facade. And this is where bluewashing comes from.

Bluewashing is not just about the ocean, “blue” also comes from the color of the United Nations logo. Many companies, organizations and entities of various kinds try to associate their name with the United Nations (UN) for the sole purpose of advertising their activities without actually taking action to support UN programs.

An example is the use of the Sustainable Development Goals of the 2030 Agenda as a cover to work under the aegis of the principles formulated by the UN, but without actually working and collaborating in that direction.

It is much easier and more cost-effective to start a communication and marketing campaign than to review the entire strategy and activities to include good practices in daily work.

How to recognize bluewashing?

With the increase in interest of people and young people towards environmental and social issues, there are more and more organizations that try to ride the wave to expand their community and their customers using increasingly different techniques and therefore increasingly difficult to recognize, especially for those who do not deal with these topics on a daily basis.

Bluewashing goes beyond the single product, it can also be found in the actual work and strategy implemented by the company, organization, or person. Transparency, above all, and long-term coherence are the first elements that we can use to evaluate the work of a given entity, company or organization.

Some points to easily recognize some of the most common bluewashing actions:

1. Captivating and generic communication

The communication is generic and does not delve into the details because it is carried out in the absence of a concrete and mature commitment from the organization. Terms such as “sustainable”, “ocean-friendly”, “green”, “low impact”, “zero emission”, “100% recycled material”, “carbon neutral” are often used without reporting all the information necessary to evaluate the true environmental impact of the product.

In addition, to attract customers and promote “sustainable” products, colors are often used that do not reflect the company’s usual colors but that recall nature. Beige, green and blue are the favorite colors for environmental sustainability campaigns. In this way, the product seems to have a positive impact on the environment, but only in appearance.

For this reason, it is important not to be enchanted by a writing or a graphic but you have to go deeper. The best way to understand if a brand is truly responsible from an environmental and social point of view is to look for the information hidden in a so-called ecological product. While a company may indicate the use of recycled or organic materials in a product, they may not disclose how or where the product was made or how the materials were sourced.

Look for evidence and data: numbers are always more reliable than words. Reading labels, websites, researching articles and asking questions about the topic they are talking about is essential to understand how much they know, how much they are engaging and how interested they really are in the topic they are communicating.

One exercise we can do? Try to choose a low-impact sunscreen to use this summer.

2. It is a short-term initiative

The temporality of the action is important, to be concrete there must be a long-term plan.

If the initiative, project or product is part of a special, exclusive, one-off or short-term edition, it must ring an alarm bell. It is not uncommon for campaigns to be activated that are limited to only one line or a specific time frame, such as World Ocean, Environment or Planet Day.

Other examples could be beach cleaning campaigns supported by companies that are not exactly environmentally friendly. Beach cleaning certainly has a positive impact on the environment and, if done correctly, is an excellent tool for environmental education and for providing data to universities and research centers. But if the cleaning is carried out and promoted by the organization only for communication purposes, it remains an activity that is an end in itself to clean up the reputation and image of the brand.

Let’s not be fooled by an advertisement, let’s try to support those who work every day to improve their work and the environment in which we all live.
Only by educating ourselves can we be sure to invest in brands that take a holistic approach, finding new business models that integrate sustainability at the core, rather than focusing only on a specific product, collection or initiative.

3. It does not involve institutions, research centres or expert bodies in the sector

Often it is an initiative carried out by a single company and organization, without involving the institutions or bodies that work on the issue on a daily basis. Understanding who is behind the campaign and what the final goals of the initiative are is a further step to frame the action within a broader strategy.

4. It privatizes a common good

In the wake of international projects such as the UN Decade of Ecosystem Restoration, many entities, organizations and companies have activated or are about to start ecosystem regeneration and restoration projects to support or accelerate the recovery of a specific habitat or ecosystem following damage, degradation or destruction.
These projects concern woods and forests but also the sea, through initiatives to restore coral reefs, mangrove forests, Cystoseira (now Ericaria) or Posidonia meadows. And so far, everything is fine.

However, these projects require a lot of caution, attention and knowledge of the sector. Placing the wrong species can cause more harm than good to the environment. Likewise, implementing a regeneration project without eradicating the problem that led to the damage to the ecosystem is a double-loss investment: capital and environmental.
For regeneration, reforestation and restoration projects to be successful, full collaboration with universities, research institutions, institutions, companies and local communities is necessary.

For this reason, it is essential – before buying or adopting a plant or a coral, for example – to inform ourselves about the nature and the premises of the entire project that our purchase would support..

What can we do?

Remember that greenwashing is not necessarily linked to the activity of a company, but can also be carried out by people, organizations, foundations and public bodies more or less consciously.
Currently, sustainability is a rapidly growing trend and to be kept up to date and not risk supporting greenwashing and bluewashing actions, you need to invest time, get informed and study a lot.

Before purchasing a product or supporting an organization or initiative, it is important to get informed and ask questions. If the organization is transparent and has nothing to hide, it will be available to provide all the requests you need and answer any doubts and curiosities.

As IOC-UNESCO Program Specialist Francesca Santoro reported at the Green&Blue Festival of la Repubblica, it is not easy. The important thing is to make the organizations understand that projects must be created on common values. It is not simply an exchange of money between profit and non-profit, customer and company, or between profit and research. Companies can change the way they produce and communicate their activities better.

It is not easy to find organizations that work with the common mission of contributing to environmental well-being without having as their goal the search for a market and commercial advantage. The responsibility is of each of us. Even in choosing who to support.

Bibliography:

https://news.un.org/en/story/2022/04/1117062

https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2016/aug/20/greenwashing-environmentalism-lies-companies

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0195925520301529

https://www.decadeonrestoration.org

Who was James Lovelock: from Cornwall to NASA, a life dedicated to science

Posted on 22 July 2022 - 5:12 pm by Serena

Chi era James Lovelock_Decennio del Mare

James Lovelock was a British scientist, independent researcher and writer known worldwide for having hypothesized the Gaia Theory, which describes the Earth as a living being in which organisms and matter are interconnected.

From Earth to Space, a Life for Science

Born in 1919 in England, James Lovelock graduated in chemistry at the University of Manchester and specialized in medical research in London. He then flew to the United States where he worked as a researcher at prestigious institutions such as Yale and Harvard.

He began collaborating with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, simply known as NASA, working on the development of numerous sensors and instruments useful for research and collection of atmospheric and space data.

Lovelock created a useful instrument for identifying the presence of Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) in the atmosphere, synthetic gases believed to be the main culprits in the reduction of the amount of ozone in the Earth’s atmosphere and therefore the increase in UV radiation reaching the Earth’s surface.
Thanks to this discovery, on September 16, 1987, the Montreal Protocol was signed, an international treaty negotiated with the aim of reducing the production and use of substances that damage the ozone layer. Treaty described by Kofi Annan, then Secretary General of the UN, as an example of exceptional international cooperation. But his collaboration with NASA went beyond Earth. The researcher also collaborated in the study of Mars as a possible planet for the discovery of extraterrestrial life forms. He studied the composition of the Martian atmosphere and collaborated on the Viking mission by designing instruments for the analysis of the composition of the Martian atmosphere

The Gaia Theory (or hypothesis)

The reason James Lovelock is most famous is the Gaia Theory, whose name derives from the Greek goddess of the Earth, developed in the 1970s during the collaboration with NASA and the American biologist Lynn Margulis.

The Earth is seen as a self-regulating system that maintains its chemical-physical conditions (average temperature, pH, quantity of gases, etc.) suitable for the development of life, thanks to the activity of living organisms. Since the origin of life, organisms have had a profound effect on the composition of the atmosphere and the climate of the Earth.

This theory laid the foundations for a new way of doing science and research, starting a new way of looking at ecology and global evolution, thus moving away from the classic image of ecology as a biological response to a series of physical conditions. The idea of a co-evolution of biology and the physical environment, in which one influences the other, was suggested as early as the mid-1700s, but never with the same force as Gaia, which claims the power of life to control and influence the abiotic environment.

In more recent times, the original Gaia hypothesis has been revised several times as a consequence of greater scientific knowledge. Research on the intrinsic behaviors of complex systems can further contribute to clarify the possibility of applying Gaian notions to the ecological and physical systems of the Earth.

The Gaia hypothesis is described in the book published in 1979 “Gaia, new ideas on ecology”.

Climate change study and warnings, already more than 50 years ago

Lovelock was not only dedicated to the Gaia hypothesis and work for NASA in space, but he spent his life advocating for taking action against the climate crisis, starting many years before other researchers and activists took note of the ongoing crisis.

Jonathan Watts, global environment editor of the Guardian, reports that without Lovelock’s studies and actions, environmental movements around the world would have been born later and would have taken a very different path. In fact, in the 1960s he launched one of the first warnings that fossil fuels were destabilizing the climate.

Before the start of the Conference of the Parties in Glasgow (COP26), in an article written by him for the Guardian in November 2021, in which we report a part translated into Italian here, Lovelock reported that:

I don’t know if it’s too late for humanity to avoid a climate catastrophe, but I am sure that there is no chance if we continue to treat global warming and the destruction of nature as separate problems. This separation is a mistake, like the one made by universities when they teach chemistry in a separate class from biology and physics. It is impossible to understand these subjects in isolation, because they are interconnected.
The same is true for living organisms that significantly influence the global environment. The composition of the Earth’s atmosphere and surface temperature are actively maintained and regulated by the biosphere, by life.

Global warming is largely caused by the extraction and burning of fossil fuels since the mid-19th century, which release methane, carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. These absorb radiant heat and prevent it from escaping from the Earth, causing global warming.

Warnings that once seemed like science fiction are now coming true. We are entering an era where temperatures and sea levels will rise decade by decade until the world becomes unrecognizable. There may be more surprises. Nature is nonlinear and unpredictable, especially in a time of transition.
James Lovelock for the Guardian, November 2021

Lovelock’s research and positions have been repeatedly contradicted and considered controversial by his colleagues, starting from the Gaia Hypothesis to his support of nuclear energy. Now many agree with his point of view.

Bibliography:

10 books about the ocean to read at the beach

Posted on 18 July 2022 - 6:17 pm by Serena

Your holiday bag must include a swimsuit, sea-friendly sunscreen, a mask, fins and… a few books to read under the umbrella, on a boat or on a rock. But not just any books, sea books to read after a refreshing swim in the clear Mediterranean waters. Below are 10 titles recommended by the Decade of the Sea team.

We invite you to visit the independent bookstore near your home, the library or second-hand retailers and search among historical essays, fiction and new titles. If you travel light and use a tablet or an ebook, many books are also available in digital format.

1.The Passenger “Oceano”

We couldn’t help but start with “Oceano”, the new The Passenger Magazine published by Iperborea dedicated to the ocean, the protagonist of our planet and our future. The book was published on June 8, World Oceans Day, in collaboration with the United Nations Decade of Marine Sciences for Sustainable Development.

To let us dive and navigate in the deep blue, Iperborea and the Decade team have selected exceptional witnesses including Sylvia Earle, a world icon of oceanography, Kerstin Forsberg, a Peruvian marine biologist specialized in the protection of manta rays, the sailor Giovanni Soldini who tells us – together with the climatologist Antonello Provenzale – how he has seen the ocean change in many years of crossings and Richard Hamblyn, who explains how a wave is born and develops.

The two reports are by Tabitha Lasley, who takes us aboard the oil platforms of the North Sea, and by the Norwegians Eskil Engdal and Kjetil Sæter, who retrace the longest chase in the history of seafaring: the hunt for the Thunder, an illegal fishing vessel, in the waters of Antarctica.

And then, again, we talk about maritime transport with the journalist Rose George, about sea vagabonds with Valentina Pigmei, about whales with the writer and enthusiast Philip Hoare and about the fable of the Hōkūle‘a told by Simon Winchester.

“The Passenger – Oceano” is an active tool of Ocean Literacy – the IOC-UNESCO Ocean Education program – to better understand our best ally in the fight against the climate crisis.

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2. Life that shines on the seashore. Rachel Carson

Rachel Carson, a pioneer of the environmental movement and ecofeminist reflection of the 20th century, is best known for her work “Silent Spring”, published in 1962 and still considered a milestone in environmentalism.

Not many people know, however, that her literary career began with the publication of three volumes dedicated to the sea: Under the sea wind, The sea around us and The edge of the sea. The third volume of the series, released in 1955, had never been published in Italian until now.

This year, Aboca Edizioni published this last essay with the title Life that shines on the seashore. In presenting the life forms that populate the coast, the author takes us to explore a tidal pool, an inaccessible cave, to observe a solitary crab on the beach at midnight: thanks to these and other encounters, she offers us not only a very precise study of the ecology of the coast, but also a powerful and evocative story about the fragile balance of life that is found on the seashore.

Enriched by an introduction by Margaret Atwood that celebrates Carson’s foresight in having intuited the crucial role of the ocean for the health of the planet and accompanied by the illustrations of Bob Hines, also present in the original edition, very useful for orienting readers in the recognition of the plants and animals described in these pages.

Life that shines on the seashore is a sentimental guide of extraordinary scientific accuracy for all lovers of the sea and great timeless readings.

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3. History of the Sea. Alessandro Vanoli

Alessandro Vanoli, historian and voice of the Mediterranean Sea Decade, has decided to embark on an adventure to tell a story of the sea that holds everything together, humanity and animals. Such a journey intends to be a story, made of faces, images, sounds and colors, with the hope of giving back a bit of that wonder that the depths have always given us.

Published by Editori Laterza, History of the Sea begins in an infinite past, four billion years ago, telling of an ancient geology and the beginnings of life, dinosaurs and primitive fish, disappeared seas and great catastrophes. And then down into the depths, to re-emerge among coral reefs, marshy areas, rocks or sandy beaches.
So of course history. That of the first colonizations, of the means and ancient boats to face the sea and the birth of ports. The history of the great myths, the biblical ones and the Homeric ones. And the civilizations: the Phoenicians, the Greeks, the Romans; and around this the merchants’ routes, the stories of amphorae, of coral; the tales of pilgrims and Vikings in America and of the Chinese in the Indian Ocean.
A history also made up of the most well-known things: the compass, the caravels, Christopher Columbus, Magellan, Vespucci and the pirates of the Caribbean. Without ever forgetting that all this also has to do with whales and sharks, with hidden treasures, with the legends of the kraken, the maelstrom, the Flying Dutchman and everything that has fueled our imagination for centuries.
Up to the present, obviously, to the environmental crisis and the melting of the ice.

As the publisher reports, “Because writing a history of the sea means talking about our deepest dreams, but also reminding ourselves that in the end we are just one species among other species. We are part of the sea and this is perhaps the thing that matters most in this whole thousand-year adventure”.

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4. This Submerged Hour. Emiliano Poddi

At one hundred and one years old, Leni Riefenstahl swims calmly on the seabed of the Maldives: it is her last dive, the last time she will be able to capture the creatures of the coral reef with her shots. Right behind her is Martha, a thirty-nine-year-old marine biologist, whose job it is to escort her underwater. In fact, Martha is not there by chance: she has been following Leni for a very long time, albeit from a distance. For years she has collected information on the “Hitler’s director” and has organized it into files divided by subject – quotes, incidents, sexual habits -, all desperate attempts at classification that that enigmatic woman always eludes.

Now Martha has the opportunity to study Leni up close, to go back, to be close to her. To discover, perhaps, why in ’41 she did what she did to her family.

This Submerged Hour stages the confrontation between two women different in age, origins, nature and ethical choices. The first is a painful figure, choosing life over death, biology over history; the second is authoritarian, manipulative, ready to sacrifice anything to aesthetics: both are immersed in a liquid world where breathing and movements follow other laws, where an hour can expand to embrace a century.

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5. Ocean, a philosophical navigation. Roberto Casati

We depend on the sea as a resource to breathe, to nourish ourselves, and also to dream. The sea is part of our environment while remaining another world, fearful as well as irresistibly suggestive, a radical elsewhere. But it is precisely this otherness that allows us to rethink it from a new perspective, to understand to what extent it has made us what we are, indicating to us what we should become.

Ocean, a philosophical navigation is a book published by Einaudi that describes the work as «a journey into the open sea, we are a thought in motion. We find ourselves next to the author as he crosses the ocean on a sailboat in the guise of a sailor/philosopher. Because sailing transforms us, indulges our desire for knowledge and opens the doors of perception. Sailing within a space of boundless freedom that dialogues with the sky radically changes our relationship with the environment, with people and even with objects. The boat becomes a school of life that forces us to think everything from scratch to act in a new way. It gives life to a form of active knowledge, built by action: a philosophy of the sea.»

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6. The Wisdom of the Sea. Björn Larsson

Sofia Rossi on Youmast described the Scandinavian writer Björn Larsson as «The love for the sea and for sailing, the tormented sentimental events and the passion for the French language and for Paris are elements of his life that Larsson rereads in a single key: that essential need for freedom that gives the title to his work».

Published by Iperborea, in The Wisdom of the Sea the author reflects on life as seen from the cockpit and the deck of a sailing boat. Described by the publisher as a sort of interior logbook kept during the years spent homeless with the boat as his only home, sailing in the Atlantic and the North Sea, between Scotland, Ireland, Wales, Brittany, Galicia and the Hebrides, letting his thoughts follow the mood of the wind and the rhythm of the waves, moved by epic crossings, by anchoring from port to port, by encounters and solitudes, by landscapes and readings, trying to understand why the attraction of the sea is so strong on many that they prefer its risks and discomforts to the comfortable safety of the mainland and what secret harmony there is between its constant motion and the deepest human aspirations.

The need for freedom, for example, from the superfluous and from conditioning, from conventions and from the time clock to be punched, which is the immediate conquest of sailing, of becoming nomads and vagabonds again, tied to the present and to the essential, rediscovering in the slowness of sailing the rhythm of walking, the openness to others, the chats under the stars, the happiness of overcoming one’s own limits with no other witnesses than the elements.

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7. The Old Man and the Sea. Ernest Hemingway

A classic literary novel that cannot be missed. Awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1953, it was the last work of fiction written by Ernest Hemingway during his lifetime.

Santiago is an old fisherman who has not managed to catch a single fish for 84 days, and yet, he gathers his strength and goes back to sea for a new fishing trip that has the flavor of an initiation. In the desperate hunt for an enormous marlin in the Caribbean Sea, in the fight almost bare-handed against the sharks that tear his prey away piece by piece, leaving him only the symbol of victory and of the curse finally defeated. In this moment, Santiago establishes, perhaps for the first time, a true brotherhood with the unstoppable forces of nature. And, above all, he finds within himself the sign and the presence of his own courage, the justification of a whole life.

8. The Book of the Sea. Morten A. Strøksnes

The Book of the Sea published by Iperborea is the true story of two friends, Morten Strøksnes and an eccentric artist-fisherman, who with a small dinghy and four hundred meters of fishing line set out to hunt this feared inhabitant of the fjords. But The Book of the Sea is also a reflection on the natural history of man, who has come to map the entire globe and navigate among the stars, and yet seems to retain an obsession with the myth of the monster, perhaps due to an atavistic predatory instinct, or the fear of the unknown that the sea still awakens in us today.

In the depths of the sea around the Lofoten Islands lives the great Greenland shark, an ancestral predator as well as the longest-lived vertebrate on the planet, so much so that today we could come across a specimen born before Copernicus discovered that the earth revolved around the sun.

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9. The Mediterranean by boat. Georges Simenon

The famous writer Georges Simenon worked as a reporter between 1931 and 1956 to finance his curiosity. So, on the eve of each trip, Simenon would go to a friend who was an editor in chief and say: “I’m leaving next week. Are you interested in twelve articles?” But precisely because they were conceived for the only activity that was close to his heart, writing – it is no coincidence that he wanted to title the volume that collects them Mes apprentissages (My Apprenticeship) – his journalistic pieces do nothing but reveal another side of Simenon the novelist.

The writer declared: “I have always noticed the difference between a dressed man and a naked man. I mean man as he really is, and man as he shows himself in public, and also as he sees himself in the mirror.”

In this journey through the waters of the Mediterranean – from Porquerolles to Tunisia passing through Elba, Messina, Syracuse, Malta – aboard a schooner, Simenon is not limited to understanding and describing the Mare Nostrum but confirms his true vocation: telling stories.

10. Leviathan or the Whale. Philip Hoare

A work published by Einaudi in 2013, which leads to the discovery of the most intimate secrets of whales and the close relationship between humanity and these incredible mammals.

Starting from an anecdote, a story, a personal memory, a page of an epic or sacred book, a scientific experiment or a geographical exploration, Hoare masterfully reconstructs entire worlds, wonderful discoveries in space and time (and especially in the sea).

Cetaceans were symbols of wealth and power: the British crown was consecrated with whale oil, and a whale tooth decorated with the presidential seal accompanied Kennedy on his last voyage. His wife had bought it as a gift, but the president did not have time to see it and the evening before the funeral Jacqueline placed it in her husband’s coffin. A gesture of affection and strong symbolic value, which harked back to medieval kings buried with symbols of power, like talismans that reflected the value of those who possessed them.

Who is IOC-UNESCO and what do they do?

Posted on 2 June 2022 - 12:20 pm by Serena

It is leading the Decade of the Sea, you read about it continuously on our website, in our social media and in our communications, but who is IOC-UNESCO?

The Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO (IOC-UNESCO) is the United Nations body responsible for coordinating oceanographic programmes and services globally. The Commission was established in 1960 as a body with functional autonomy within UNESCO.

As briefly mentioned above, IOC-UNESCO promotes international cooperation and coordinates research programmes, services and capacity building to better understand the nature and resources of the ocean and coastal zones. This knowledge is then applied to:

improve global marine resource management
implement a sustainable marine and coastal development plan
protect the marine environment
coordinate Ocean Education programs
support decision-making processes of the 150 Member States.

IOC-UNESCO supports all its Member States in developing their scientific and institutional capacities to achieve the global objectives outlined in the United Nations 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals, the Paris Agreement on Climate Change and the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction.

What are the objectives of IOC-UNESCO?

The high-level objectives that IOC-UNESCO has set between 2014 and 2021 are:

Healthy marine ecosystems and ecosystem services ensured
Effective early warning and preparedness for tsunamis and other ocean-related hazards
Increasing resilience to climate change and variability and improving the safety, efficiency and effectiveness of ocean activities through science-based services, adaptation and mitigation strategies
Increasing knowledge of emerging marine science issues

In addition, during the One Ocean Summit organized by the French government in Brest, the Director General of UNESCO invited Member States to include Ocean Literacy in school curricula at all levels by 2025.

During the UN Ocean Conference, the global goal of mapping 80% of the seabed by 2030 was also established thanks to the Seabed2030 project, part of the Decade of Marine Sciences for Sustainable Development program.

UNESCO presenta il nuovo Rapporto sullo Stato dell'Oceano_UNESCO_Decennio del Mare — Before and after coral restoration near Komodo. © Martin Colognoli / Ocean Image Bank

What is the composition of IOC-UNESCO?

IOC-UNESCO is a unique global forum for understanding and managing the ocean composed of several governing bodies that coordinate activities at the global level.

General Conference

It meets every two years with the participation of all UNESCO Member States. It is based at the UNESCO Headquarters in Paris, France.

Member States

IOC-UNESCO is composed of 150 Member States (as of July 2019) that work together to safeguard the health of the ocean through ocean observation, tsunami warning and maritime spatial planning.

Assembly

The Assembly meets once every two years with the primary purpose of reviewing the work of the Commission, including that of the Member States and the Secretariat, and formulating a joint work plan for the following two years.

The Executive Council

Composed of 58 Member States, elected by and from among all Member States, it meets twice a year to review the progress of the work in progress. During the meetings, the items to be discussed in the Assemblies are also prepared and decisions are taken for the General Conferences.

Secretariat

The IOC-UNESCO Secretariat is based in Paris, France. The general services and central services support UNESCO in public information, strategic planning through the creation of partnerships, financial management, audit, human resources, legal affairs, data and technology management, project management.
Along with the various UNESCO sectors, there are category 1 institutes and centres that deal with specific tasks, such as the institute of education.

What are the IOC-UNESCO programmes?

Critical knowledge transfer is essential to achieve the objectives and improve ocean management at local and global levels.
Strategies and objectives are linked to long-term collaborative programmes and mechanisms with different IOC bodies and programmes, such as:

Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS)
International Oceanographic Data and Information Exchange (IODE)
Ocean Biogeographic Information System (OBIS)
World Climate Research Programme (WCRP)
Ocean Science Programme (OSP)
Integrated Coastal Area Management (ICAM)
Harmful Algal Blooms (HAB)

IOC-UNESCO also contributes to educational programmes and the training of educators’ networks through its participation in the European Marine Science Educators Association (EMSEA) and its Mediterranean network (EMSEA-MED).

What is the role of the IOC Project Office in Venice?

The UNESCO Regional Bureau for Science and Culture in Europe hosts an IOC-UNESCO unit. As part of its capacity building activities, IOC-UNESCO is dedicated to Ocean Literacy and marine science communication programmes. The training programmes developed involve all spheres of society, they are not exclusive to schools and children.

The Venice office is therefore at the forefront of developing and disseminating knowledge on ocean literacy at a global level. Among the activities, a global platform for the exchange of information and educational content, the Ocean Literacy Portal, has been created. The portal is a platform for connecting researchers, ocean educators and policy specialists.

The Ocean Literacy programme has initiated a project part of the Decade of the Sea initiatives at a global level, called Ocean Literacy With All (OLWA).
OLWA aims to promote understanding of the importance of taking action to change behavior and attitudes towards the ocean and marine life.
The first step is given by communication programs on the impact of the ocean on us and our influence on the ocean, the second is activation on the territory through community-level initiatives.

IOC-UNESCO through the use of methods that promote behavioral change and the adoption of a systemic approach, aims to facilitate the creation of an ocean-educated society ready to work to achieve the objectives of Sustainable Development Goal 14 and the Decade of the Sea.

A practical example is the Ocean&Climate Village, an educational project that stands out for its community-engaged teaching approach. Traveling around the world, the Ocean&Climate Village invites local communities to discover the unique relationships between their city and the ocean through an interdisciplinary approach.

Bibliography:

IOC-UNESCO

IOC UNESCO

Our Structure | IOC UNESCO.

The Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of UNESCO | UNEP – UN Environment Programme

Venice