Green Bubbles, Green Bubbles RISE for sustainable diving

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Green Bubbles is an EU-funded project dedicated to recreational SCUBA diving, an activity engaging millions of people worldwide. Green Bubbles has worked to maximise the benefits associated with diving while minimising its negative impacts, thus achieving the environmental, economic and social sustainability of the diving system. An important component of the benefits associated with SCUBA diving is its educational potential.

Green Bubbles (GB) is an EU-funded project dedicated to recreational SCUBA diving, an activity engaging millions of people worldwide. The scope of GB, which has run from January 2015 to December 2018, has been to maximise the benefits associated with diving while minimising its negative impacts, thus achieving the environmental, economic and social sustainability of the diving system.

Green Bubbles has been implemented by a consortium of ten entities, including universities, research organisations, educational organisations and Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) from six different countries located in three continents (Italy, the Netherlands, Malta, Turkey, South Africa and the United States). Green Bubbles is an ambitious and complex project, cutting across many disciplines (socio-economics, marine sciences, ecological economics, medicine/physiology, risk management, IT/engineering, gamification, education/pedagogy, business and marketing).

Green Bubbles has worked to maximise the benefits associated with diving (such as direct and indirect revenues for coastal communities and Marine Protected Areas - MPAs, promotion of ocean stewardship, contribution to scientific research, fostering social inclusion and personal development) while minimising its negative impacts (including those due to damage or disturbance of habitats and organisms, and to conflicts with local communities for the access to/use of the same resources, equity issues, or cultural clashes).

To such an end, the project began with a thorough assessment of the human and physical dimensions of the diving system. Based on the results of this first phase, the project has developed four additional research lines aimed at delivering concrete outputs that could be taken up by divers, dive operators, large diving agencies, other tourism businesses, territorial authorities and schools – all these stakeholders have engaged directly with the Green Bubbles researchers, ensuring relevant feedback throughout the project lifespan. These four and interlinked lines have been pursued at both primary case studies (the Portofino MPA in Italy, and the Partial Marine Reserve of Ponta do Ouro in Mozambique) and have focused on:

  1. Building a better and integrated traditional offer at the diving destinations, also throughout tailored business models and marketing approaches.
  2. Bringing diving in schools, as a supporting tool to Ocean Literacy and STEM in general.
  3. Structuring Citizen Science in the context of scuba diving, also as an educational tool.
  4. Supporting quality labelling in diving.

 

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