The UN Ocean Conference hosted by Portugal and Kenya opened in Lisbon to support the implementation of Goal 14 of Agenda 2030, namely to conserve and sustainably manage the ocean and marine resources.
Faced with unstoppable temperature rises, depletion of biodiversity, and pollution with estimates indicating that plastic could outnumber all the fish in the ocean by 2050, we must design and implement joint projects to protect and preserve the ocean without wasting a minute. Science and technology experts, as well as representatives from the economic, governmental and civil society spheres, will respond to this convocation, with the aim of advancing concrete answers and solutions that contribute to the mitigation of the climate crisis and the siege of the ocean.
THE OCEAN RACE RELAY4NATURE BATON
Working alongside IOC-UNESCO for the Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021-2030), Giovanni Soldini reached Lisbon aboard the trimaran Maserati Multi70 together with a delegation from Pierre Casiraghi and Boris Herrmann’s Team Malizia represented by Holly Cova, Lucia Nebrada and Helene Katz, in their aim to further encourage and being part of the great planetary change of course that we will face in rapid progression by 2030.
As they arrived in Lisbon, the special crew were handed over The Ocean Race’s Relay4Nature Baton by Richard Brisius, Race Charmain, The Ocean Race. The Baton symbolically links environmental conferences as it travels around the world and passes through the hands of leaders, innovators and ocean advocates, giving the ocean a voice on critical issues facing the planet. Aboard the Maserati Multi70, the baton will reach Genoa, where the Ocean Race will conclude in a year’s time. Next stop: New York, where the United Nations General Assembly will take place in September.
The Maserati Multi70 and Malizia team, which have always been allied on the protection and study of solutions to safeguard the oceans, have adopted the OCEAN PACK, an instrument capable of analysing the CO2 present in the sea surface, as part of their on-board equipment, with the intention of contributing to the expanding pool of data placed at the service of science for monitoring the health of the sea.
ABOUT THE OCEAN PACK
The OCEAN PACK (SubCtech) is a German-made device that pumps seawater into a circuit, filters it through a membrane and extracts CO2 from the water. Carbon dioxide is then measured by the system, which also analyses temperature, salinity and acidity through various sensors. Once collected, the data is stored on an SD card and sent to the central computer on board, while the water is returned to the sea. Maserati Multi70 is the first racing trimaran equipped with the Ocean Pack, the same type carried by Team Malizia.
“The fact that a racing boat that travels so many miles can in some way contribute to helping the scientific community to better understand what happens at sea is precious,” comments Giovanni Soldini. “We have to act but we can only proceed by studying, observing and mapping the mechanisms that regulate the oceans. I hope that an increasingly large fleet will join this research, accelerating the progress of knowledge and collective action”.
