At the beginning of September Khaled bin Sultan Living Oceans Foundation Director of Communications, Alison Barrat, participated in the UNESCO World Heritage Marine Site Managers conference in the Galapagos Islands. The conference brought together managers of the most special marine places that we have on the planet. Areas that have been called out for their Outstanding Universal Value and are now protected by UNESCO for the future for all of us.
Managers of Marine World Heritage sites from around the world met in the Galápagos aboard the Lindblad Expeditions National Geographic Endeavour. (© Daniel Correia/UNESCO)
Managers of UNESCO sites solve conservation issues every day and the conference was designed so that they could share ideas and solutions with other site managers from around the world. The conference was held aboard the Lindblad Expeditions National Geographic Endeavour and sailed around the Galapagos Islands over the course of the meeting. UNESCO invited experts from many fields and covered topics as diverse as making management plans that take climate change into account, communication and branding, working with businesses to increase conservation and protection, and the future of sustainable fisheries within marine World Heritage sites. Among those speaking at the conference were Dr. Daniel Pauly and Smithsonian Scientist Dr. Stephen Box, whose fisheries work is featured in our upcoming film An Ocean Mystery: The Missing Catch.
The marine site managers are a dedicated team of people protecting some of the most beloved places on the planet for many generations to come. You can hear some of their individual perspectives in this short film:
