Leveraging Surfing and Indigenous Knowledge for Capacity Building in Ocean Conservation through Citizen Science.

Surfer Scientists explores the intersection of surfing culture, indigenous knowledge, and community-based science to enhance biodiversity conservation and Nature-Based Solutions (NBS) monitoring and reporting across South American and Asian coastal regions. Through the Surfer Scientists initiative, coastal communities use their passion for surfing as a gateway to engage in citizen science, mapping and monitoring surf breaks with affordable, easy-to-use devices. This initiative not only builds local capacity for sustainable marine resource management but also provides a means of preserving ecosystems, offering educational and economic opportunities, and generating essential data for local and international stakeholders, including the United Nations.

Indigenous communities possess extensive ecological insights from generations of close interaction with their environments. By involving these communities in data collection, analysis, and interpretation, the project seeks to bridge data gaps, enhance scientific understanding, and foster a mutual exchange of traditional and scientific knowledge. Our project highlights approaches for forming equitable partnerships with indigenous groups, co-developing monitoring frameworks and best practices that integrate traditional knowledge and scientific methods. These frameworks allow communities to monitor coral reef ecosystems, biodiversity, habitat health, and coastal erosion, reflecting both indigenous practices and the scientific rigor required for global biodiversity goals.

Digital platforms and community-based monitoring tools play a crucial role, facilitating accurate, high-resolution data collection by local participants. Case studies showcase best practices in embedding indigenous knowledge into NBS monitoring and reporting, creating participatory frameworks that bolster both local and international conservation efforts.

Key Points:

• Surfing’s global popularity, with over 25 million surfers, provides a unique, untapped avenue for marine conservation.
• Younger, engaged surfing demographics, including indigenous surfers, represent an ideal target for conservation efforts in remote, biodiverse regions.
• This initiative fosters sustainable tourism and supports local livelihoods while contributing vital data for managing ocean health and biodiversity.

In conclusion, integrating surfing culture, indigenous knowledge, and community-based data collection across coastal communities presents a transformative opportunity to enhance environmental stewardship, support sustainable livelihoods and culture, and advance biodiversity conservation on a global scale. 

Surfing is huge. It presents a huge opportunity to assist local communities and provide vital information to better understand and protect our oceans. 

Surfers are caretakers of the ocean. They can make a huge contribution to scientific data to better manage our oceans. 

This project complements the  German Ocean Foundation’s “Ocean Citizen Science” initiative engaging the global watersport’s community as data collectors and providing the infrastructure to share ocean observations.  

Surfer Scientists is a United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development endorsed project under the Global Ocean Observing System Programme.