The One Ocean Foundation for ocean protection

Our interview with Riccardo Bonadeo, President of the Foundation and for many years Commodore of the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda

Try to imagine the beauty and richness of a planet bathed everywhere by clear, clean waters. A thought certainly stimulated by the wonder of the sea that laps the northern coast of Sardinia. It is no coincidence that One Ocean Foundation was set up by the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda. Riccardo Bonadeo, president of the Foundation and for many years Commodore of Yacht Club Costa Smeralda, tells us more about this important organization committed to protecting the ocean.

Riccardo Bonadeo, President of the One Ocean Foundation

How did the idea of setting up One Ocean Foundation come about?

The idea came about following the great success of an international Forum on the theme of protecting the sea and our ties with it, which we organized in Milan on the occasion of the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda’s 50th anniversary in 2017.

What are the Foundation’s main areas of activity?

The Foundation’s activity is divided into three main lines. The first is that of awareness and education, through activities and events, such as the Young Summit and One Ocean Week Milan. Then there are environmental initiatives, such as research in the Caprera canyon (from this year the second Hope Spot in Italy recognized by Mission Blue), No Plastic in the Ocean and Blue Forest, a big international project dedicated to the protection of marine forests, one of our flagship activities thanks to which we have already restored 400 m2 of marine forests in Liguria, and planted over 10,000 cuttings of Posidonia Oceanica, a plant with extraordinary environmental value. The third strand is Blue Economy, to which projects such as the Ocean Disclosure Initiative are linked, the first system of guidelines to support companies in becoming aware of the pressure exerted by industry on marine ecosystems.

One Ocean Foundation

Small but important steps within everyone’s reach?

Together with our scientific committee we created the Charta Smeralda, a guide with ‘the 10 Commandments’, which include minimizing the use of natural resources and drinking water when not strictly necessary, encouraging recycling and separate waste collection, and putting suggested good practices in place to minimize sources of pollution, starting with boat maintenance and cleaning.

What world awaits us if we start taking care of it?

The famous photographer Sebastião Salgado, who has documented the beauty but also the deterioration of our planet, claims that humanity has reached a threshold of no return.

The Foundation’s objective is to refute this doom and gloom prediction, and to do so it is necessary to explain the interdependence between human life and that of the ocean. What is not given enough consideration is that taking care of the health of our ecosystem is fundamental from an environmental, but also social and economic point of view, if we consider how natural resources are very important for the development of many businesses.

An important memory of yours related to the sea?

When returning in extremely difficult conditions from the famous Fastnet Race in 1979, where I competed aboard one of the three Italian yachts taking part, I came across an enormous mass of clotted plastic. It was the event that perhaps more than any other marked the beginning of my commitment to protecting the sea.