The GLOBE40 course: a remarkable laboratory for analysis and action aimed at protecting the ocean
From the moment the GLOBE40 was launched back in June 2019, the organiser made clear its desire to champion societal and environmental causes in addition to the sporting challenge. Today, with preparations in full swing for the race start in Tangier in June 2022, the GLOBE40 and PURE OCEAN come together to announce an ambitious international programme to protect the ocean, which will go by the name GLOBE40 FOR PURE OCEAN.
The GLOBE40 course goes to the very heart of the problems associated with the protection of the ocean with its 8 legs ranking among the world’s largest maritime spaces, including the Tangier – Tetouan – Al Hoceïma region in Morocco, which links Mediterranean waters and the Atlantic Ocean, the Cape Verde Islands, Mauritius, Ushuaia and Patagonia, as well as French Polynesia, the largest maritime space in the world that is all in one piece and the responsibility of just one state.
In what may be considered to be a truly unique approach, the programme is aiming to have a positive impact by communicating extensively about the various problems and solutions associated with the ocean through a series of conferences during the stopovers, whilst supporting innovative research programmes designed to help protect the marine ecosystems championed by Pure Ocean. In this way, projects identified or initiated in the race’s host regions may be eligible under the call for projects launched by PURE OCEAN.
Beyond communicating and raising awareness, the two protagonists are keen to be a part of a highly practical approach designed to have a genuine positive impact on the spaces requiring protection in the countries concerned with subsequent monitoring of the actions undertaken over time.
PURE OCEAN: an NGO dedicated to the protection of the ocean through the support of innovative scientific research projects
Created in 2017 and based in Marseille and Lorient in France, the NGO PURE OCEAN is funding innovative research projects, which help to protect biodiversity and fragile marine ecosystems all over the world.
These projects have the potential to open up new courses of action to observe and measure the changes affecting marine life, physico-chemical characteristics of the ocean and their impact on global dynamics, sustainable use of marine resources and the identification of techniques enabling the restoration of ecosystems and biodiversity.
In this way, in 2021 PURE OCEAN launched an international call for projects aiming to provide financial assistance to scientific projects spanning 5 continents. Applicants had to send in their proposals by 1 November 2021 with the fund’s scientific committee due to make their selection in the spring of 2022.
REACTIONS:
Manfred RAMSPACHER: creator and organiser of the GLOBE40
“Today, we can no longer circumnavigate the globe in a yacht race without being concerned about the condition of the ‘playing field’. Given that the GLOBE40 aims to be a demanding top-level race open to the world it is traversing, it would be impossible to steer clear of the challenges affecting the ocean, humanity’s lung. By joining forces with a recognised and active NGO specialised in the protection of the ocean we’re adding our contribution by working closely with the local protagonists at each stopover. Within that context, we will endeavour to ensure that any actions undertaken have a real and practical vocation, which will be monitored over time. We are convinced that the competitors in an international event like the GLOBE40 will be proud to be a part of this initiative”.
David SUSSMANN, Founder – President of PURE OCEAN
“I’m delighted to have PURE OCEAN team up with GLOBE40, a very different race and a genuine human, sporting and environmental adventure, whose values and goals are fully in line with our own. This innovative international programme to protect the ocean will extend beyond the classic notions of performance by putting science centre stage in the discussions at each of the stopovers. Let’s not forget that there is only one ocean, which connects us all and makes life on our planet possible. It’s down to every one of us to play our part in its preservation”.