PhD Researcher Becca Farnum was in Baltimore, Maryland this weekend to attend the launch of the Global Environmental Guardians Network, an initiative of the Kuwait Dive Team.
The Network brings together volunteer marine conservation organisations like Ocean Conservancy and the Plastic Ocean Project to build resources around citizen science on marine debris as well as the Back River Restoration Committee and Ocean Defenders Alliance to share techniques for salvaging and waste disposal.
The initiative is one of several of the Kuwait Dive Team’s environmental diplomacy techniques. Becca Farnum is working with the Team, as well as other environmental NGOs in the Middle East and North Africa, to inform her PhD on environmental peacebuilding, exploring the role of nature in diplomatic efforts.
During the weekend, she helped the Team lift some 5 tonnes of debris from upstream of the Chesapeake Bay, went on a live tour of a new technology using solar and current energy to remove rubbish from rivers, and brainstormed new marine conservancy educational programmes for Kuwait during a visit to the US’ National Aquarium.