Three Questions on Sustainable Development: Goal 14 - Life below Water

We spoke with Antidia Citores, the Legal, Lobbying and Campaign Manager of the Surfrider Foundation Europe, and Sofiane Hadine who is in charge of the Ocean Initiatives, a program supported by the Surfrider Foundation Europe, about how to sustain oceans, seas and marine resources, especially through clean up actions. Antidia Citores is also board member of the Mission Healthy Ocean at European level.

1014: Oceans, seas, and marine resources should be conserved and used in a sustainable way. What do you observe at the Surfrider Foundation Europe with regard to this objective and why do you see a need for action? How does the Surfrider Foundation Europe work?

Antidia Citores: The state of oceans, seas, and marine resources is alarming in every aspect. Acidification, coastal erosion, climate change, rising water levels, etc. not only harm life under water. They also harm us humans as we depend on fish and other resources that oceans provide. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (ICCP) warns in its October 2020 report that global warming poses great risks to marine biodiversity, fisheries, ocean ecosystems, and the vital functions and services they provide. And the EU Commission determined that comprehensive action is needed. This is our reality and reason to fight.

The Surfrider Foundation Europe was created in 1990 by a group of surfers who wanted to protect their playground. Now, it has grown to 13,000 members across Europe, but with grassroots activism to protect our oceans and coasts still at the core of the organization.

At the Surfrider Foundation Europe, we offer several levers of action. First, we provide scientific and legal expertise through collected data. What is happening in the oceans and what are the impacts? Second, we raise awareness through dissemination of information and education. And third, we advocate for change on the European political stage. Our actions target three main issues: Water quality, marine litter (plastics), and climate change. We involve and work with all social actors: citizens as voters and consumers, local authorities as decision-makers and companies, the private sector, as producer of goods, services, and wealth but also employers. We advise and encourage best practices.

With our 43 local volunteer chapters throughout Europe, located in 11 different European countries, we extend our reach well beyond our headquarters in Biarritz and remain true to our founding mission based on grassroots activism. One of our programs is the Ocean Initiatives that tackles aquatic waste through education, participatory science, and lobbying by organizing beach clean ups.

With your Ocean Initiatives, you provide a platform to mobilize citizens to become "part of the solution". Can you describe how a typical beach clean-up is conducted – from organizing the event to the actual gathering and cleaning to filing the reports?

Sofiane Hadine: We organize the clean-up action on beaches, lakes, rivers, and sea beds with support from Surfrider Foundation Europe. The local organizer first goes to our website and answers a series of questions such as date, place, and time of the clean-up. He or she also selects the desired collection material. After this registration, Surfrider Foundation Europe will send the collection material to the organizer's home.

We then provide the local organizer with an Organizer's Guide (a document guiding him/her from A to Z through the process of organizing his/her clean-up action) and with an Awareness Sheet (a two-sided document with instructions that he/she will be able to follow on the day of the clean-up).

On the day of the collection, the event will be divided into three phases that meet three objectives:

First - Collection time - curing objective: It is time to protect what we love. Volunteers arm themselves with bags and gloves and collect as much waste as possible.

Second - Awareness time - awareness objective: Reading the Awareness Sheet, the organizer will then pass on a message to the participants. This is the most important part because collecting waste just for the sake of collecting is useless. What is essential is to change our behaviors. This change is achieved through sensitization.

Third - The quantification time, which is optional - scientific objective: The organizer and the participants quantify and qualify the waste they have collected.

Each year, Surfrider Foundation Europe compiles all the data collected by the volunteers to create the Environmental Balance Sheet - a comprehensive document that provides an overview of the state of pollution on Europe's beaches, lakes, and rivers. This data is crucial: it is the foundation of the work we do every day to protect the oceans.

In an ideal world, what do you think should be done more to conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas, and marine resources?

Antidia Citores: The ocean is essential for life on Earth. A source of oxygen and food, it regulates the climate and shelters a multitude of ecosystems that are highly threatened by our human activities.
In an ideal world, there would no longer be a need for programs such as the Ocean Initiatives. Our societies would, for example, have made the transition from single-use to reusable products, which would dramatically reduce the pollution of the oceans and seas with plastic. We need to be patient, though, because plastic stays in the oceans and seas for decades and even centuries. But we need to start preventing waste and harmful substances in the first place. Prevention should gain priority. We should live in a way that is sustainable and preserves our oceans, seas, and marine resources.

To find out more, go to www.surfrider.eu