SEA2SEE PARTICIPATES IN THE NATIONAL CONGRESS ABOUT THE ENVIRONMENT, CONAMA 2016
by François van den Abeele on Nov 30, 2016
Cities, businesses, civil society organizations, scientists, politicians, technicians, ecologists, governments, citizen platforms, universities, entrepreneurs, students and journalists will be meeting until December 2nd in the National Congress of the Environment, held in Madrid.
Transforming the world economy to take on a sustainable model is taking a lead role in the world of politics today. In 2015, the UN adopted the Agenda for Sustainable Development. Also, the Paris Agreement (a climate change agreement where 195 countries are attempting to decarbonize the economy and use more natural forms of energy) was approved this year. This global vision should translate over into local governments around the world and be implemented to help generate new possibilities and opportunities for employment and wellbeing.
The objective of this congress is to establish a process to drive the change to create a more circular and greener economy, with lower carbon usage and to take advantage of opportunities in the market.
This year, in 2016, the UN approved a new urban agenda. The new CONAMA 2016 will reserve a good chunk of time of the program to contribute to a constructive debate about how to make our cities carbon neutral, green and resilient, as well as healthy, inclusive and participatory.
François Van den Abeele, CEO of Sea2see will participate in those days at a round table called “Entrepreneurs and value: how to give another use to ocean trash”, it will be moderated by Ignasi Mateo from the Waste Agency of Catalonia.
With our participation at this round table, we want to contribute to the visibility of the problem of contamination that affects all oceans on the planet and has turned ghost fishing into one of the main dangers to fauna and flora worldwide. Plastic waste is responsible for the deaths of millions of aquatic birds and hundreds of millions of aquatic mammals every year.
Of all the plastic in the ocean, 12% is abandoned fishing nets, and this is where the heart of our business model is focused. A model that is generating, even today, a real and tangible impact on the environment: each pair of glasses is equivalent to 10 square meters of cleaner ocean. Furthermore we are working hand in hand with fisherman through training and awareness programs to create efficient, circular economies.
Events like CONAMA allow for the environmental sector, whom have known for many years the grave diagnosis of the situation we are trying to overcome, to work to create change and establish/implement realistic and efficient measurements for the conservation of nature, the management of waste and the energy transition.
