She holds the record for deepest walk on the sea floor, is one of the world’s leading experts on marine biology, has carried out 100+ global expeditions, logged more than 7000 hours underwater, received over 100 international honors. And last November, 88-year-old Sylvia Earle, often referred to as ‘Her Deepness’, came to Ibiza to inaugurate the Fifth Annual Marine Forum. Forum Coordinator Antonio Martínez Beneyto called her presence quite an honour.
The Mediterranean Sea is one of the most polluted and overexploited seas on the planet. The Marine Forum of Ibiza and Formentera provides discussion about the environmental future of our islands. It unites public and private sectors to stimulate high-level debate with local and global experts aiming towards a framework for recovery of our marine environment. Three key objectives are reducing discharges of wastewater into the sea, improving protection of coastal habitats, eliminating single-use plastics in Ibiza and Formentera. The Marine Forum’s goal is restoration by 2030.
Ms. Earle, the first woman to lead the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, advocates for ocean conservation and education. She spoke to the Forum about her years as an explorer, her work to expand marine protected areas and cataloging of additional areas that need urgent protection. Sylvia Earle was clear that we are destroying the planet, species and biodiversity, although with will and work she believes there remains time to reverse the situation. She emphasized the Balearic Islands have to be a reference of hope for the protection and regeneration of the Balearic Sea and explained now we are suffering the consequences of having done things without conscience before.
Sylvia Earle highlighted that Posidonia, an endemic aquatic plant found in waters of Ibiza and Formentara, must be protected and cared for because it is the future for the Mediterranean. Nicknamed the Lungs of the Earth, Posidonia is not only a highly effective carbon sink capable of absorbing 15 times more CO2 from the atmosphere than the Amazon rainforest, it is home to an enormous range of organisms. The meadows purify the waters around us, giving them their characteristic turquoise colour, generating huge amounts of oxygen, capturing plastic materials dumped into the sea and preventing erosion along the coastline by keeping sand in place. In Ibiza and Formentera the extensive Posidonia meadows, some 80,000 to 100,000 years old, are a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The uncontrolled anchoring of boats, pollution and coastal urbanisation have destroyed thousands of square metres of Posidonia, a loss with serious repercussions for our ecosystem. Forum sponsor Ibiza Preservation offers one solution, a responsible boating course aimed at skippers and the nautical sector to raise awareness among sailors about their responsibility every time they go out to sea. This course, developed by One Planet One Life, is delivered to nautical companies and individuals with the support of the Spanish government. All hope its lessons are followed. Because as Maximiliano Bello, executive advisor of Forum sponsor Mission Blue warns: Spain and all of Europe are falling far behind in terms of protecting the seas and the ocean.
