Environmental superstar Sylvia Earle will lead a global contingent of researchers and waste management innovators that will gather in Port Elizabeth for the inaugural African Marine Waste Conference from July 9-13.
The presence of Ted Prize winner Earle, a National Geographic Society Explorer-in-Residence, who has 22 honourary degrees and more than a hundred national and international honours, is considered a major coup for the Metro.
Dr. Sylvia A. Earle, called “Her Deepness” by the New Yorker and the New York Times, “Living Legend” by the Library of Congress, and first “Hero for the Planet” by Time magazine, is an oceanographer, explorer, author, and lecturer.
Sustainable Seas Trust Director and conference convenor, Dr Tony Ribbink said the confirmation of Earle, “who has earned world-wide fame, and others like here, would cast a global spotlight on the city and the scourge of marine waste in Africa.’’
In addition to Earle other notable participants include Ivory Coast’s Abou Bamba the Executive Secretary of The Abidjan Convention, an intergovernmental coastal and marine conservation treaty, and USbased Nancy Wallace the Director of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Marine Debris Program the federal lead for researching, preventing, and reducing the impacts of marine debris in the United States.
Wallace, the Chair of the United Nation’s Global Partnership on Marine Litter, and CoChair of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation’s Marine Debris Working Group, will be joined by other internationals including Chris Wilcox a research scientist with CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research, stationed in Hobart, Tasmania, Dr. Jenna Jambeck an Associate Professor in the College of Engineering at the University of Georgia, and the co-developer of the mobile app – Marine Debris Tracker and Kristian Teleki the Senior Marine Adviser to the Prince of Wales’s International Sustainability Unit and the Director of Engagement for Ocean Unite, among others.
