Subscribe
Renowned ocean swimmer Lewis Pugh, one of the patrons of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) for oceans, has announced his next global campaign. The swimmer will swim across seven seas with the aim of raising awareness among the public and policy makers about the importance of creating dedicated Marine Protected Areas.
He would then become the first person to undertake long distance swims in each of the Seven Seas—The Mediterranean, Adriatic, Aegean, Black, Red, Arabian and North Sea. The campaign will be called “Seven Swims in the Seven Seas for One Reason”.
The United Nations is urging all nations to set aside at least 10 per cent of their waters as a network of well-managed and well-designed Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) by 2020. In addition, the Convention on Biological Diversity works specifically to promote the recovery of marine and coastal biodiversity and fisheries resources, and to control land-based sources of pollution.
According to a press release by UNEP, Pugh is a leading figure in global efforts to protect the world's oceans. Over a period of 27 years, he has pioneered swims in the most hostile waters on Earth. In 2007 his swim across an open patch of sea at the North Pole to highlight the melting of the Arctic Sea was global news, as was his 2010 swim across a newly formed glacial lake on Mount Everest, which drew significant attention to the impact of climate change on the Himalayas.