The Surf Conservation Partnership

For surfers riding waves from Bali to Baja, the health of the ocean is deteriorating right beneath their boards due to unchecked coastal development, overfishing and climate change.

Surfing generates US$50 billion a year and is enjoyed by more than 35 million people across the globe; people who are passionate about keeping the ocean — and their favorite surf spots — healthy.

Conservation International and the Save The Waves Coalition joined forces to create the Surf Conservation Partnership to mobilize surfing communities on a global scale and protect areas with outstanding waves and biologically diverse marine and coastal ecosystems. The goal: to sustainably manage millions of hectares of coral reefs, coastal forests and other critical habitats in areas that otherwise would not be conserved.

THE APPROACH IS SIMPLE

We work with local communities and governments to create “surf protected areas,” which protect ecosystems by removing threats of overfishing, deforestation, plastic pollution and unsustainable development — helping nature and people to thrive.

By 2025, the Surf Conservation Partnership will:

• Protect more than 1 million hectares (2.5 million acres) of coral reef, mangrove, coastline and coastal forest — an area collectively 100 miles long by 40 miles wide. This will conserve more than 300 high-quality surf breaks and benefit tens of thousands of local people around the world.
• Improve the lives of tens of thousands of people through sustainable development.
• Help youth (with a focus on girls and young women) build critical life skills and actively lead conservation and sustainable economic enterprises.
• Implement sustainable tourism programs that encourage community-centered, environmentally responsible surf and nature tourism.
• Demonstrate to decision-makers the massive economic contribution that surfing makes to local economies and the critical role it can play in conservation.

But popular surf locations are also plagued by plastic pollution, unchecked development, overuse of natural resources and impacts from climate change. The creation of surf protected areas helps to safeguard these important ecosystems and local economies through regulations and actions that stop these threats.

Regulations to protect these areas are being developed by local people and governments including: no-fishing areas, prohibitions on destructive fishing gear, limitations on fishing by outside people unless they have permission, restrictions on habitat alteration including harvesting of sand and coral and requirements for sustainable coastal development.

Surf protected areas have massive advantages for expanding conservation

For everyone who loves the ocean, the surf protected area approach has several advantages for expanding marine conservation:

• Demand: Surfing communities and governments are calling for this approach because it protects waves that they value, conserves resources that they depend on and offers opportunities for sustainable tourism.
• Speed: Surfing communities are deeply connected to the ocean, know that it is threatened and are motivated to conserve it — all of which makes the process of establishing surf protected areas move quickly.
• Sustainability: Healthy coastlines and quality surfing waves have immense social and economic value. The Surfonomics methodology has shown that surfing generates millions of dollars for local economies and that visiting surfers are willing to pay for long-term conservation of surfing waves and nature. This massive economic value motivates communities and decision-makers to protect their coastal resources and waves in the long-term.

​Contact info:
Scott Atkinson, Director, The Surf Conservation Partnership, Conservation International’s Center for Oceans. For more information, contact us.

Across the globe, more than 85 percent of the world's best surfing waves are located in areas that are critically important for marine and coastal conservation. This creates near limitless potential for surf protected areas that combine the legal protection of marine ecosystems and sustainable community development.

Surf Conservation Partnership founders

Conservation International and the Save The Waves Coalition greatly appreciate the visionary people who are helping to launch the Surf Conservation Partnership. These are our partnership founders, who are generously offering their advice, engaging their friends and colleagues in the initiative, and providing critical funding and support.