In February, our team published our first annual report under the name of Save The Med Foundation!
Last year, in Asociación Ondine’s last annual report we wrote that… “In a changing world faced with numerous human imposed threats of global scale requiring urgent change, we have come to a tipping point where our actions today, or the lack thereof, will determine our legacy and our children’s tomorrow. A tipping point in which we are expected to find the courage to step up our game, to reconsider our definition of wealth, to embrace a transformation of ourselves and of society as we know it, and to rewrite our future together. In such times, passivity and stagnation are not an option. If we want to see a change, we must begin by changing ourselves.” And changed we have!
Manifesting these intentions has been our main focus throughout 2019 and the transition from Asociación Ondine to Save The Med Foundation has been a first and necessary step in this process. The welcoming of the amazing team from Alnitak, who brought with them over 30 years of experience in the marine research and conservation field to join Save The Med, in order to work together and more efficiently reach common goals as one organisation, has been a second step of more to come.
“Back in 2018, our common founders OceanCare brought together what was then Asociación Ondine and Alnitak. We worked together to develop the Changemakers Project and organised a joint research expedition during which the teams got along so well that we joked about becoming team one team.”
The whole expedition was surrounded with the magic of nature telling us that “the time is right” to increase our ambitions and to work more closely together. So once Ondine had evolved into Save The Med Foundation, and the idea of building bridges by working together as one team came up again, we didn’t need much time to say “Count us in!”
Both teams work with conservation of the sea, a vast 3D realm with a variety of ecosystems that make up over three quarters of our biosphere. The species we work to protect know of no boarders. “The problems we tackle are global and highly mobile. This means that planet wide we are thousands of conservationists and researchers focusing on the same issues. Individually we are irrelevant.
If we work in isolation, we would often be reinventing wheels and be challenged with tasks too big to tackle. It’s only by working together under networks of collaborations that we can make a difference. By “adding efforts to multiply impact” we can accelerate science and the development of technological measures for mitigating the risks to marine biodiversity. Standing together with a clear and common voice, we can become a valid contribution to national, regional and international policies for sustainable development.
And on top of that, it just feels very good to work in an environment of collaborative spirit!” says marine scientist, founder of Alnitak and Captain of the Toftevaag, Ricardo Sagarminaga about joining Save The Med Foundation.
In the report, which is downloadable from Save The Med’s website (news section), you can read all about our ever expanding project work, see photos and videos, learn what our collaborators feel about the initiatives they are involved in, find out how we have invested our funds and get an overall overview of our team and our main projects in 2019. You can also find out how you can get involved in the different projects - because we couldn’t do any of it alone!
All the work done is made possible thanks to our amazing families and their unconditional support, and thanks to our awesome volunteers, students, changemakers, members, funders and collaborators who ensure the continuity of our work! Our heartfelt thank you to each and every one of you for a super productive 2019 in the name of Mediterranean marine regeneration! You are #GenerationSaveThe Med!