People learn best through meaningful and fun experiences linked to evidence-based information that supports them to take action on plastic waste beach management.

Life systems are connected across geo-political and social boundaries. The Beach Co-op works within a global understanding of environmental and social opportunities and challenges but acts at the local and national level to address them.

In implementing community development projects, particularly those related to the environment, it is vital that local communities are involved as they understand their environment best. The participatory approach encourages close collaboration with civil groups. Heavily focusing on its members’ capacities to be effective managers of change, a more functional and successful solution can be adapted. Through participatory dialogues, technical trainings, and the fostering of partnerships among NGOs, business, and governments — local and national —  solutions are generated that cannot be achieved by any of these entities on their own. These dialogues allow the opportunity to collectively assess needs, and identify, design, and implement initiatives.

In recent times, a participatory research programme led by the private partner has been working towards allowing the new heritage authority to promote a genuine values-based and participatory heritage management. Understanding heritage in terms of who assigns just what importance can inform site conservation and improve the management of change in the wider landscape. Diverse perceptions of, and relationships with, the World Heritage property and other heritage have been mapped, and this has allowed previously neglected connections and interdependencies to emerge.

The initiative also works to identify capacity within civil society, institutions and among local heritage specialists to contribute to heritage agendas and so steps beyond classic cultural mapping to understand what triggers positive change in a broad local network.

The first tangible results emerging are geo-referenced tools aimed at improving decision-making regarding change and continuity and harnessing local capacities in the process. The overarching aim is that of capturing the full potential of heritage’s contribution to sustainable development in this difficult and complex area.

As the public-private partnership improved approaches to conservation, it became clear that the challenges being faced on site were affected by its wider context. It was vital to recognise the Vesuvian area and wider socio-economic dynamics, as a source of opportunities, not threats, that could reinforce site management. Heritage was increasingly viewed as a shared responsibility.

A key initiative was the Herculaneum Centre, a non-profit association founded by the heritage authority, the municipality and a research institute to consolidate a network of local, national and international partners. For 5 years, it implemented an activity programme focused on stimulating new types of involvement in Ercolano’s heritage. The capacity to work with others was enhanced within institutions and civil society through research networks, community projects and a variety of learning environments.

The trust of local partners created conditions, unimaginable ten years earlier, for the regeneration of a difficult urban district adjacent to the archaeological site known as Via Mare.

With the Centre’s programme completed, this tradition of cooperation has been taken forward by Herculaneum’s new heritage authority, supported by the Packard foundation and other partners.

The nature of Herculaneum’s burial 2000 years ago meant that open-air excavation in the early 20th c. revealed an extraordinary level of preservation of the Roman town but had to be accompanied by the stabilization of these multistorey ruins, and the reinstatement of roads and drainage systems. The site today requires conservation of the archaeological fabric but also of these aging restoration interventions, and at an urban scale.

However, efforts at Herculaneum in the late 20th c. approached the site as a series of individual elements. This was partly due to limited access to interdisciplinary expertise and steady funding sources – sporadic capital funding for one-off localised projects predominated.

With the turn of the millennium, a new approach was taken that mapped conservation issues and interdependencies between them across the entire site, and acted on them. Initial efforts focused on resolving situations in areas at risk of collapse or with vulnerable decorative features. Over time the focus shifted to long-term strategies for reducing the causes of decay and developing site-wide maintenance cycles sustainable by the public authority alone so that the site would not revert back. With these now entirely sustained by the public partner the overarching objective has been achieved.

In response to severe decay across the archaeological site, in 2001 a process of change was initiated by a philanthropic foundation, the Packard Humanities Institute. Twenty years on the public-private partnership which emerged, the Herculaneum Conservation Project, continues to conserve and enhance ancient Herculaneum and its relationship to the surrounding area, including the modern city of Ercolano and the wider Vesuvian region. The partners’ activities today unfold within the management system of the dedicated public heritage authority responsible for the site, the Parco Archeologico di Ercolano. The partnership has also benefited from significant collaborations with many other local, national and international stakeholders.

Each partner brings its particular strengths to the initiative: for example, the democratic mandate and long-term commitment of the public authority and the responsiveness and vision of the private partner. A team of Italian specialists from different disciplines and specialist contractors have worked alongside public heritage officers to identify and tackle the problems faced at Herculaneum, reinforcing the existing management system from the inside.

Each year, Save The Waves accepts one new World Surfing Reserve from surf communities all around the world. The application process requires significant work from local communities and their inquiry is based on the following core criteria: 

1) Quality and consistency of the wave(s);

2) Important environmental characteristics;

3) Culture and surf history;

4) Governance capacity and local support;

5) Priority Conservation Area

Each application is reviewed by an indepedent Vision Council made up of professionals in the conservation, business, nonprofit, and surf fields. Once the World Surfing Reserve is selected based on the rigorous criteria, they undergo the Stewardship Planning Process and the other building blocks to formally dedicate the World Surfing Reserve.

A Local Stewardship Council (LSC) is the main representative of a World Surfing Reserve and is in charge of implementing the Local Stewardship Plan. The LSC works together with Save The Waves Coalition to Protect, Steward, and Defend their surf ecosystem.

LSC members work on the ground and with the local community to carry out activities that result in the long-term conservation of the reserve as well as celebrate and honor the tradition of surfing and ocean recreation.  The Stewardship Planning Process brings together the LSC and important community members to map out the the critical threats to the region and come up with long term goals and objectives for permanent protection.  

The Stewardship Planning Process generally follows the outline in "Measures of Success" that includes building a Conceptual Model, developing a management plan that identifies goals, objectives, actions and timelines based on the threats to address.

STW has demonstrated success as a leader of surf conservation and coalition building.  We create strategic coalitions to carry out conservation projects at World Surfing reserves that have real impacts.  In selecting partners on the ground, we find common interests, fill capacity gaps based on strengths, and set common goals to have an outsized impact in the places we work. Through this work, STW has built a reputation of trust working with local partners around the world. 

For World Surfing Reserves and at Bahia de Todos Santos, we built a coalition between local surfers, environmental NGO's, local government agencies, businesses, artists and neighborhood groups to create holistic vision for the protection and enhancement of the region and coastline.