São Paulo – Non-governmental organization Voice of the Oceans will have a “home” during the U.N. climate summit COP30 to take place from November 10 to 21 in Belém, Brazil. On Monday (7), the CEO of Voice of the Oceans, David Schurmann, met with officials of the Arab-Brazilian Chamber of Commerce (ABCC) at its headquarters in São Paulo, where he presented the project aimed mainly at raising awareness about plastic waste reaching the oceans.
The meeting was attended by ABCC President William Adib Dib Jr, International Relations Vice President & Secretary-General Mohamad Mourad, Communications & Marketing Vice President Silvia Antibas, and Institutional Relations Senior Analyst Elaine Prates. Schurmann was accompanied by Voice of the Oceans COO Fabíola Carlotto, and Communications and Engagement Manager Alexandre Moreno.
Schurmann is a filmmaker and one of the children of Heloísa Schurmann and Vilfredo Schurmann. The family became well-known for undertaking expeditions around the world on a sailboat. During these voyages to some of the most remote places on the planet, the Schurmanns documented the impact of human activity on the oceans.
“In the past 20 years, we’ve felt that the oceans were changing. We went to the most remote places on the planet, to Point Nemo, which is the most isolated location in the world (in the South Pacific). There are some uninhabited islands near Point Nemo. Twenty years ago, we arrived at these islands, landed there by boat, and when we reached the shore, I looked to the side and saw colorful things. They were human waste, trash. We thought that if that region was collecting trash, something was very wrong. And we’ve only seen it increase since,” Schurmann reported.
Voice of the Oceans was established in 2021 to raise awareness about waste being dumped into the oceans. As part of this project, the organization will have the “Voice of the Oceans House” at COP30, a space featuring an auditorium, lounge, audiovisual studio, interactive exhibition, and lectures with special guests. Two of the family’s sailboats will be at the house. One of them, with Heloisa on board, is currently sailing through the Indian Ocean. The other will set sail in August from southern Brazil to Belém.
Schurmann says that the goal of bringing the oceans to COP30, a space that primarily discusses greenhouse gas emissions, is to raise awareness about the role of the oceans as the “lungs” of the world and the fact that between 65% and 70% of the waste found in the oceans comes from rivers.
The Voice of the Oceans House will not be located in the Blue Zone, the restricted area at COPs where formal negotiations between countries take place, nor in the Green Zone, which is reserved for exhibitions, fairs, cultural activities, and other events open to the public. The house will be in a “Free Zone,” Schurmann says, at the Casa das Onze Janelas Cultural Center, and will be open to the public.
Voice of the Oceans has been engaging with initiatives in Arab countries. Recently, Heloísa Schurmann was an invited panelist at Sorbonne University Abu Dhabi, in the United Arab Emirates, during the United Nations Ocean Conference held in Nice, France. The Arab country has initiatives to promote the circular economy and to combat plastic waste in the oceans.
Read more:
Strengthening the oceanic cause with the UAE
Translated by Guilherme Miranda
