Global | PANORAMA

Establishing a set of race regulations that places science at the centre of racing activities

11th Hour Racing Team on arrival in Newport Rhode Island having won the leg

Team spirit

ailing Energy / The Ocean Race

The Ocean Race Teams Sustainability Charter and Code of Conduct was co-created with the teams to express a fleet-wide commitment to sustainable operations and supporting a healthy ocean. The charter includes themes of Advocacy, Science, Learning and Operations. It seeks to get all teams, staff, and sailors to stand up for the ocean through sustainable sailing, team, and personal actions.

On the science front, teams must pledge to agree to:

Supporting science-based decision making.
Participating in increasing knowledge and understanding of our ocean.
Hosting scientific equipment onboard.
Participating in sailor and citizen science programmes.
Contributing to the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science in collaboration with The Ocean Race.

Including science within a charter and requiring stakeholders to undertake various science-related activities whilst competing in a sailing race embeds science, as a core value, into race practices. This is unique in the sporting world as it requires teams and athletes to take on environmental responsibilities as well as their existing sporting responsibilities.

Awareness of climate change and the importance, and fragility, of oceans.
Desire to protect oceans and sailing’s ‘racetrack’.
Understanding the importance of data collection for climate and ocean science.
Desire to use sailing and racing beyond sporting objectives, as a platform for scientific research.

Collaboration is key, everyone needs to take part and be responsible for a better future for all.

Engagement with the teams, partners and host cities needs to be early on and there is a need to support them in their journey - not as an afterthought or last minute addition. There needs to be someone within each team that is dedicated to Sustainability and maintaining the Sustainability Charter within their team and department. It is important not to underestimate the amount of work needed to maintain the Sustainability Charter and our sustainability goals - assign enough resources!

In an event like The Ocean Race, there are also challenges due to unpredictable circumstances like boat repairs from dismasting or collisions which can increase the footprint and environmental impact of the team and the Race. It is important to have some extra capacity and contingencies to offset unforeseen circumstances like these.

The Ocean Race Teams Charter & Code of Conduct

A unique racecourse that provides access to geographically extreme and data-sparse areas across the planet’s oceans

Map showing observations from the Voluntary Observing Ships (VOS) Scheme, highlighting both the unique route taken by boats competing in The Ocean Race and the usefulness of their contribution to the Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS) programme.

Voluntary Observing Ships Scheme Map

NOAA

The underlying premise for The Ocean Race – racing to circumnavigate the world – means that the race naturally takes competitors to some of the most remote areas in the world. This makes it a unique platform for undertaking scientific research as it gives scientists access to remote areas, such as the Southern Ocean around Antarctica, that would otherwise rarely be accessible. Ships sailing outside of regular shipping routes play an essential role in the ability to deploy scientific instrumentation, such as the drifter buoys and Argo floats that are deployed during the race, across under-sampled locations. This affords rare opportunities for gathering data from parts of the planet where little information has been recorded, making the Race a crucial platform for collecting data that is otherwise unattainable and filling data gaps, contributing to furthering our understanding of our oceans.

The underlying premise for The Ocean Race – circumnavigating the world as fast as possible – means that the race will invariably take boats to areas that are infrequently sailed.
The design of the race route (race legs, race stopovers, etc.) will determine where boats go.
Sailing race boats allow access to some of the planet’s most remote seas as well as areas outside common shipping and research routes.

The race’s route, with stopovers in different countries, presented logistical challenges regarding the transportation of scientific equipment to stopover ports as well as the shipment of samples, material, and instruments back to scientific partners. For example, shipments were subject to varying import conditions and customs duties depending on their country of origin and destination.

Working with local scientific institutions helped with equipment, transporting the equipment on person and working diligently with customs before, during and after transport. Logistics for an international science experiment needs to be well planned out in advance and all admin done in advance regarding shipment of equipment and samples etc.

Documentation and dissemination of results

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Science programme infographic

Science programme infographic 2

Building block 3 – Embracing local expertise, governance, and ownership of projects

While following the direction and guidance of the IOC, NOCs are best placed to design and implement projects complying with the IOC’s global standards at local level. This means that the IOC can support and promote environmental projects, while benefiting from expertise that the NOCs can provide in the local context through. This implementation method not only promotes local solutions to global problems, but also increases local ownership, empowers local communities, and promotes cooperation between sports, local environmental groups and indigenous peoples.

In Brazil, for example, the “Brazil Olympic Committee Olympic Forest” project aims to restore a damaged part of the Tefé National Forest in the Amazon and is executed together with the Mamirauá Institute of Sustainable Development. Besides restoration, the project’s objective is to reinforce the sustainable use of the forest by the local community through planting key species such as Brazilian chestnut and açaí or providing training to the local community.

Training and upskilling of local communities (on mangrove planting/rehabilitation) is one of the main objectives also of the Papua New Guinea Olympic Committee’s “Love Your Coast Project” where they aim to train “Love Your Coast Champions”, who are to lead small conservation projects in their communities

As leader of the Olympic Movement, the IOC is responsible for coordinating relations and actions of all members of the Olympic Movement, including the National Olympic Committees. This ensures that projects and actions can be designed and implemented according to consistent regulations or guidelines, enabling continuity and best practice across the Olympic Movement’s environmental activities.

While it was important to set up general criteria that all projects would need to comply with to ensure consistency and high quality, providing NOCs with the flexibility to reflect local context and its particular risks and opportunities in how they approach the criteria proved to be equally vital.

Building block 2 – Establishing principles for admitting National Olympic Committees’ projects to the Olympic Forest network

The IOC’s Executive Board approved several principles that NOCs would have to meet to join the Olympic Forest Network.

To have their project included in the Network, an NOC is required to submit details for the IOC’s review and approval, based on these specific criteria/principles. The review process is coordinated together with environmental experts who provide their feedback to the NOC and have the possibility to carry out field visit whenever relevant.

Projects are required to:

Contribute to enhancing climate and nature protection and resilience;
Support and be delivered in partnership with local communities;
Be developed and implemented in collaboration with the relevant experts and authorities; and
Have a long-term maintenance plan in place.

These principles help guide NOCs in the creation of their projects and ensure that all projects that are part of the Network are contribution to climate action and nature protection. The principles also ensure that projects possess certain characteristics and collaborative structures that are to ensure local impact and projects’ long-term viability.

Knowledge and understanding of factors that are important for designing and implementing successful nature restoration projects.
IOC’s practical experience with the implementation of the Olympic Forest project.
Collaboration between sport and nature conservation experts.

Having principles “on paper” does not automatically mean that they will be perfectly implemented and adhered to by the NOCs from the very beginning.

The application process to this initiative is a learning and improvement path where NOCs, under the guidance of the IOC and of environmental experts, can be guided to ultimately comply with all the requirements of the initiative and to create and implement high quality projects with tangible added value and shared benefits for the ecosystems and the local communities.

Building block 1 – Using an existing initiative (the Olympic Forest) as a blueprint for National Olympic Commit-tees to initiate their own nature restoration projects.

The IOC’s Olympic Forest project – a reforestation initiative launched in Mali and Senegal – generated interest from National Olympic Committees, who expressed their wishes to take action against climate change and to implement similar projects in their own countries.

Following this interest, the IOC launched the Olympic Forest Network, where NOCs could build on the original Olympic Forest project by designing and implementing their own initiatives to restore existing forests, wildlife corridors, coastal watersheds, and ecosystems, as well as implement regenerative agriculture projects.

The Network builds on, and expands, the IOC’s Olympic Forest initiative, helping to profile Olympic Movement’s work that contributes to fighting climate change and conserving nature. It recognises local projects delivered by NOCs according to best practices and within the IOC’s framework. The IOC provides support to NOCs (guidance, technical advice for the application to the network, workshops, webinars and in some cases funding), receives their projects and assesses them using specific criteria. Thanks to its offices located worldwide, IUCN helps the IOC in providing technical feedback about the projects, carrying out field visits and reviewing the technical documentation provided by the NOCs.

The IOC’s initial design and implementation of a reforestation project
National Olympic Committees’ interest in environmental work
The original implementing organisation’s (i.e. IOC) desire to expand its original project and support the organisations driving these secondary projects
The collaborative spirit encouraged by the Olympic Movement and facilitated by the IOC’s organisational structure (NOCs as constituents of the Olympic Movement under the leadership of the IOC)
Good communication between the IOC and NOCs

The establishment of clear guidelines and criteria for this type of initiative is essential to avoid the multiplication of low-quality projects with low added value and benefits for nature conservation and local communities. Leading by example in this field helps to drive the Olympic Movement into proper planning and proper allocation.

Political will and a mandate for developing a multi-stakeholder initiative to strengthen Inclusive Sustainable Blue Economy in the WIO region

Our Blue Future (OBF) Officially Launched During WIOMSA 2022 Symposium

Our Blue Future initiative

Proceedings of the WIOMSA 2022 Symposium

Our Blue Future initiative

The Western Indian Ocean (WIO) region is recognized globally as a biodiversity hotspot with high ecological and socio-economic value. However, with increased global demand for natural resources, pollution, climate change, and a diversity of unsustainable economic activities, the region’s fragile coastal and marine ecosystems are under threat. In response to this, efforts and innovative solutions are urgently required as a business-as-usual scenario will likely result in the depletion of coastal and marine resources and associated socio-economic benefits. Starting in 2020, to bolster collective leadership between state, private sector, and civil society actors, GIZ’s Western Indian Ocean Governance Initiative (WIOGI) and partners supported discussions to develop a regional multi-stakeholder initiative for an Inclusive Sustainable Blue Economy in the Western Indian Ocean region. This proposal was presented and endorsed during the tenth Nairobi Convention Conference of Parties (Decision CP.10/12) in November 2021.

Having an official mandate is an essential success factor for such a participatory, multi-stakeholder, and multi-sectoral process. It helps create ownership for the process and continuous collaboration within the Our Blue Future alliance.

It is important to have a clear role for governments in a multi-stakeholder initiative. Without an appropriate role for government actors, their willingness to join the initiative becomes challenging.
Multi-stakeholder and collective leadership approaches are essential to engaging in high-quality dialogue among key actors, an essential basis for forming action-oriented partnerships across the region.

National

Multi-national

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REPORT OF THE TENTH CONFERENCE OF THE PARTIES TO THE NAIROBI CONVENTION

What is Our Blue Future?

Drone Data

From drone data to canopy height model

Drones play a pivotal role in the 3LD-Monitoring system, complementing other data collection methods.Drones are essential tools in partner countries to fortify technical skills among local staff. These skills encompass flight planning, navigation and image evaluation. The drone monitoring aims to empower project staff to capture data tailored for photogrammetric analyses, from which crucial geoinformation emerges.

The drone mapping methodology encompasses five stages, with the first two focusing on drone operations:

Mapping mission preparation (desktop work)
Mapping mission execution (fieldwork)
Development of Digital Surface Model (DSM) & Orthomosaic generation (desktop work)
Data analysis and refinement (desktop work)
Integration into the prevailing data system (desktop work)

Drone data aids in evaluating indicators linked to carbon/biomass, such as mortality rates and forest types. Notably, with the application of allometric equations and proper characterization of the land type, above-ground biomass estimations of trees can be determined.

Drones with pre-set flight planning capability ensure seamless orthophoto creation from individual images. This enables individual snapshots to seamlessly merge into an orthophoto (aerial photograph corrected for distortions, allowing accurate measurements). It's also vital to consider the availability of these drones in the local markets of partner countries. Leveraging local knowledge by involving local academia is paramount in this process. They can provide essential allometric equations, grounded in tree height, that facilitate precise biomass calculations.

Drones generate high resolution images, allowing a detailed overview of land cover changes, tree survival and erosion rates, among others. Combined with field data, drone-based monitoring is strengthened, guaranteeing a sound monitoring.

The heterogeneity of trees and vegetation density often hinders a sound extraction of common key points between the images, which is necessary to estimate the heights and other indicators. In this regard, increasing the overlap between images to a minimum of 85 % frontal and side overlap can improve the extraction of key points. Also, increasing the flight height of the drone reduces perspective distortion, which facilitates the detection of visual similarities between overlapping images. However, too much overlapping, i.e., high overlapping percentages result in higher amount of data, making data processing more time intensive.

Another aspect already mentioned is the availability of suitable drones in the partner countries. Importing drones to the respective countries is difficult, and bureaucratic barriers persist.

Satellite Data

Screenshot of the existing F4F-Dashboard application

Satellite data forms the bedrock of the 3LD-Monitoring system, harnessing the capabilities of open-source imagery from the Copernicus Sentinel-2 and LANDSAT satellites. An algorithm, meticulously developed by Remote Sensing Solutions (RSS) GmbH, revolutionizes this process. Users can seamlessly submit the shapefile of their area of interest, prompting the algorithm to automatically fetch and analyze relevant data. A spectrum of robust analyses are conducted including the 5-year vegetation trend using NDVI for assessing vegetation gains or losses, 5-year vegetation moisture analysis through NDWI, and a nuanced 5-year rainfall trend evaluation. Additionally, the algorithm facilitates the visualization of vegetation changes since the inception of the project, bolstering the monitoring framework with dynamic insights. Satellite data, a vital component of the 3LDM-Monitoring system, leverages open-source imagery from the Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission and LANDSAT satellites. For predefined areas, this data is automatically fetched and analyzed for specific parameters. Key analyses include a 5-year vegetation trend using NDVI as a proxy for vegetation gains or losses, a 5-year vegetation moisture trend through NDWI, and a 5-year rainfall trend. In addition vegetation changes from project start can be visualized.

Effective use of this building block hinges on users drawing and saving areas in GIS platforms like QGIS. Additionally, enhancing the shapefile with project specifics, such as start dates and FLR type, optimizes analysis. Proper training in these skills ensures accurate data input and tailored monitoring, making capacity building in these areas essential if not present.

While satellite data, especially open-source, offers broad insights, its capability for species identification is highly restricted, if not unattainable. This limitation emphasizes the indispensable role of field work in discerning species composition and characteristics. Additionally, understanding the innate constraints of satellite imagery, especially with young tree plantations, reinforces the need for integrating field and drone data to gain a comprehensive view of forest terrains.

Efficient Monitoring, Reporting and Verification (MRV) system

Compared to similar carbon projects in agriculture, the Western Kenya Soil Carbon Project piloted an efficient Monitoring, Reporting and Verification (MRV) system. By using a modelling approach instead of pure activity monitoring, monitoring costs of the scheme could be decreased significantly. Also, the pilot uses digital monitoring tools (app), which makes the MRV more efficient. The digitalized MRV system provides the potential to integrate commodity market platform access for smallholder farmers.

Sufficient financial resources to ensure the availability of digtial tools are important. Moreover people need to be available in the field to introduce farmers to the digital tools like apps and help with problems and questions. A coordination entity to supervise this but also the whole MRV process and its quality is thus a key component.

Increasing the efficiency of carbon schemes requires reduction of transaction costs, for example by applying satellite-based SOC monitoring or digital extension service support systems. To improve partner countries' national climate MRV system efficiency, it is recommended to link carbon projects MRV to national carbon registries.

Monitoring

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Baseline

The baseline refers to the projection of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions that would occur in a specific project area if no interventions or changes to current practices are implemented. This serves as a point of comparison to assess the effectiveness of the carbon project in reducing emissions.

The baseline is essential for calculating the actual carbon reductions attributable to the Capercaillie project and to measure the project’s impact on mitigating climate change.

The baseline sets the benchmark for assessing the carbon reduction achievements of the project and is therefore highly relevant for the issuance of CO2 certificates. Especially demanding is the forecast of the developement in a given area over long periods of time, which plays a crucial role on the amount of CO2 certificates issued. The long term protection goal in protected and conserved area is therefore a important advantage for the long term sequestration of CO2 equivalents.

Planning phase

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