Covering two-thirds of the Planet’s surface, seas and oceans are the true blue gold of our communities, natural ecosystems and economies, both local and global.
Celebrating the fourteenth World Oceans Day today is a way to draw attention to the need to care for fragile marine ecosystems, but above all to bring people around the world together in collective action for the regeneration of seas, oceans and everything that depends on them. This is, in fact, the theme of this year’s World Oceans Day.
Today we know that oceans are among the most important regulators of climate change, extraordinary absorbers of greenhouse gases, and the primary source of the water and oxygen we need to survive. We are also fully aware of how much oceans contribute to the social and economic survival of communities by providing liveable environments, jobs and livelihoods.
And yet, they remain profoundly mysterious to humanity: more than 90% of underwater species are still unknown. At the same time, they continue to face severe threats: marine pollution, ocean warming, eutrophication, acidification, overfishing and the destruction of marine habitats all undermine ecosystem biodiversity and ocean food webs.
These challenges affect not only the seas, but also fundamental human rights, especially those of small-scale local fishermen, whose survival depends heavily on the health of the oceans.
This is why today, more than slogans and words, we need action. Collective, participatory, inclusive, ambitious and regenerative action. Action born from bringing together different stakeholders and protagonists, local and global, to co-create real solutions capable of taking different needs into account and laying the foundations for shared prosperity.
It is precisely from this need that Trame Mediterranee Blue Edition was created: six days in which, directly from Pollica, in the heart of the Mediterranean, young people and fishermen will meet alongside scientists and experts in marine and fisheries ecosystems to rediscover the Mediterranean and co-design, through design methodologies and prosperity thinking, practical proposals for the creation of the first Experimental Marine Area in Italy and Cilento.
Too often, marine protected areas are seen as spaces of restriction and deprivation: particularly vulnerable or damaged areas where fishing or navigation is prohibited. Instead, these same areas could become extraordinary opportunities: Experimental Marine Areas in which the role of fishermen becomes strategic once again; places dedicated to care, research and sustainable innovation, moving at the slow rhythm of Ci-lento, the time of Regeneration.
This is why we chose to begin from the Mediterranean, a biodiversity hotspot characterized by small-scale fishing. Thanks to the collaboration between Future Food Institute, the Municipality of Pollica and the Angelo Vassallo Mediterranean Diet Study Center, from July 4 to 9, 2022, this area will become a laboratory of integral ecology, designed to raise awareness of the immense value of the intangible heritage embodied in the Mediterranean Diet and to create models for a sustainable Mediterranean future.
Trame Mediterranee Blue Edition details here: https://paideiacampus.org/event/trame-mediterranee-blue-edition/
