When is a sector like yachting truly sustainable?
Our united passion for the water is the very reason yachting exists.
We are intrinsically connected to the oceans and our future relies on their health. Future as in business and jobs for the industry side, and yachting possibilities and asset value for those that get to enjoy the lifestyle.
Yet, with this stronger connection and dependency on the actual health of the ocean compared to any other maritime sector, we are in a strategic position to take action, transformative action, for a collective positive impact. But which project should you support?
To complement our role as a guide for the yachting community in reducing its environmental impact, Water Revolution Foundation also works alongside conservation institutions and scientists at the highest level to guide the superyacht industry towards supporting the most impactful initiatives for ocean conservation. Only when significantly reducing our environmental impact and investing in ocean conservation, the yachting sector can become truly sustainable. We need to showcase that yachting and the oceans are not a one-way relationship.
The yachting sector is blessed with having the world’s most affluent and influential clients, who care deeply about shaping a healthier future for our marine environment. This is our opportunity to take on a stewardship role for the oceans and make them a key stakeholder of our industry. We need to shift from viewing ocean conservation as philanthropy to understanding that it is, in actuality, an investment. How? By following the framework of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, adopted by the United Nations, and by working closely with the scientific community, we support the oceans at the highest possible level, taking care to invest in the initiatives that truly make a difference. By being part of the solution, rather than the problem.
In order to help the yachting community in making the right and most effective choices, Water Revolution Foundation works with a scientific advisory board, comprising of some of the most renowned researchers in the field of ocean conservation. This will lead to a new path to nurturing both ocean and human vitality through transformative marine ecosystem conservation projects at scale. As the first endorsed ocean conservation project Water Revolution Foundation, selected the Important Marine Mammal Areas (IMMA) programme and runs a crowdfunding campaign to engage every member of the yachting community to collectively look after the health of our beloved oceans.
The objective of the IMMA programme is to map the world’s ocean and identify the most important habitats for whales, dolphins and other marine mammals. We need to protect these habitats in order to protect marine biodiversity. Marine mammals, particularly whales, play a key role in the health of the ocean and the planet. Not only is there something of wonder, beauty and awe when we see them out on the ocean, but they are also an important part of how our ocean and our world works. When whales reach the end of their lives, their sinking bodies put a huge amount of carbon directly into the deep ocean where it can be locked away. During their daily lives they also fertilise the surface waters where they feed, creating healthy habitats for phytoplankton – microscopic organisms responsible for creating as much oxygen and absorbing as much CO2 as all forests and grasslands combined.
It’s time we made the oceans a key stakeholder of our industry. Our actions today will determine not just the kind of ocean we have but the kind of planet.
