One Ocean Foundation, an Italian non-profit organisation that works at an international level, speaks out on behalf of our seas with a high-profile approach, targeting companies, institutions and the scientific community in particular. Among its most important initiatives is “Business for Ocean Sustainability”, a research project managed in collaboration with SDA Bocconi, McKinsey & Company and CSIC (the Spanish National Research Council), which lays the foundations for an analytical rating system to assess the impact of business on the sea. Using this framework, OOF has produced reports providing technical and economic insights and highlighting the impacts that specific sectors such as the fashion industry, construction, agriculture, fuel extraction, aquaculture and fishing have on the health of our oceans, all of which are published on oceandisclosureinitiative.org
Environmental impact assessment systems that determine the value of companies and their products already exist, predominantly focused on CO2 emissions. However, it is imperative to broaden the scope of evaluation parameters to encompass impacts on marine health, which is crucial to the well-being of over 3 billion individuals residing along the world’s coastlines.
In addition to the power to influence the behaviour of companies and institutions, “our” foundation has significant operational capacity, and engages in diverse education and direct action projects in the field, ranging from cleaning coastlines to raising awareness in schools and planting new Posidonia fields in the Ligurian Sea.
CANYON OF CAPRERA
A natural underwater paradise exists that is spontaneously created by a special conformation of the seabed, combined with the currents that undulate between Sardinia and Corsica, forming a specific circulation of nutrients that concentrates all aquatic life in the area around this point.
These nutrients attract small fish, which in turn attract the big ones, and so on and so forth up the food chain, until we reach predators and cetaceans such as Cuvier’s beaked whale, the fin whale and the sperm whale, but also various dolphins such as Risso’s dolphin, along with birds and sea turtles.
One Ocean Foundation has been conducting research activities for several years in the Canyon of Caprera using non-invasive techniques. The monitoring carried out – visual surveys, bioacoustics, analysis of persistent organic pollutants – aims to obtain the scientific evidence required for the Canyon to be classified as a marine protected area. Among the analyses is the collection of environmental DNA: traces released by animals through their skin, eggs or faeces and that indicate their presence in the area. Thanks to this testing it was discovered that the Mediterranean monk seal, although critically endangered, is not yet extinct!
FROM HOT SPOT TO HOPE SPOT
From March 2024, thanks to OOF’s commitment, the Canyon of Caprera will become one of the Hope Spots identified by Mission Blue, the global foundation headed by Sylvia Earle, supported by Rolex, and committed to protecting an increasing number of marine areas around the world. Sylvia Earle is a living legend, named the first “hero of the planet” by Time magazine, she is also known as “Her Deepness”, having explored the depths, designed submarines, written books and used every possible means for scientific dissemination regarding the blue planet, without which, as she continues to insist, the green planet could not exist.
“The Canyon of Caprera is of fundamental ecological value, as most of the species we are studying appear to use the area as a feeding and breeding site. Despite its value, the Canyon – like much of the Mediterranean – is subject to numerous anthropogenic threats,” commented Jan Pachner, Secretary General of One Ocean Foundation. “And marine mammals in particular are subject to accidental bycatch, collision with boats due to intense marine traffic, but also noise and chemical pollution along with waste such as plastic.”
As an editorial team, we want to emphasise that the Canyon is not a tourist destination but a protected area to be respected and kept away from, especially when it comes to motor boats. In general, we need to reconsider our view of the sea, a precious and essentially defenceless asset that we must strive to protect from even the smallest form of pollution. To find out more about One Ocean Foundation’s activities and support them – with a donation for example – just type the simple and memorable address 1ocean.org into your browser.
