Sustainability starts with you.
Oceans cover 71 percent of the planet and are home to important species and ecosystems that we rely on for food, livelihoods, climate regulation and more. But the oceans need our help. Saving the oceans can sometimes feel like an overwhelming task, but if we all pitch in, we can make a big difference.
The oceans face a massive and growing threat from plastics. An estimated 17.6 billion pounds of plastic leaks into the marine environment from land-based sources every year—that’s roughly equivalent to dumping a garbage truck full of plastic into
our oceans every minute. And plastics never go away!
We must urge companies to provide consumers with plastic-free alternatives and say no to single use plastics such as straws, plastic cutlery, coffee cups, water bottles, plastic bags,
balloons, plastic-wrapped produce and take-out food containers.
WATO has chosen the shark as our symbol to represent its mission on marine conservation. We are dedicated to help protect and conserve world oceans, water and ecosystems. As apex predators, sharks play an important role in the ecosystem by maintaining the species below them in the food chain and serving as an indicator for ocean health. They help remove the weak and the sick as well as keeping the balance with competitors helping to ensure species diversity. This is how the sharks keep our oceans healthy.
“We need the oceans, they do not need us.”
WATO is in the process of filing for Inter-Governmental Organization status at the United Nations. WATO will serve and guide any government, private sector, civil society and legitimized NGO seeking a way to confront the dire challenges our oceans face. WATO will exist to link these disparate entities together, providing a common lens through which they can align their activities primarily at the United Nations. WATO is steered by a group of United Nations Ambassadors and Member States that have come together to take immediate action to save our oceans.
Our mission is to leverage the art and unlock humanity to accelerate the drive to implement the SDG’s. We are connecting different artists globally and harness their collective power for humanity to save the oceans. The Shark by Domingo Zapata is the first travelling shark to raise awareness on Ocean Sustainability. WATO seeks to link analogous ocean organizations and artists together, providing a common lens through which they can support the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
On the 13th of December 2019, the Pope Francis, the bishop of Rome, leader of the worldwide Catholic Church, and head of state representing the Holy See – had given his blessing to THE SHARK. The Shark is now the Laudato si’ Shark. Laudato si’ is the second encyclical of Pope Francis. The encyclical has the subtitle “on care for our common home”. In it, the Pope critiques consumerism and irresponsible development, laments environmental degradation and global warming, and calls all people of the world to take “swift and unified global action“.
The 17 Sustainable Development Agenda of the UN is an ambitious global vision that seeks to tackle extreme poverty, curb climate change and put the world on a more prosperous and sustainable path by 2030. It includes 17 Sustainable Development
Goals and 169 Targets that have been adopted by World Leaders at a special summit in September 2015.
The global ocean, which covers nearly three-quarters of the surface of our planet is a vital lifeline for billions of people and species. The climate change momentum has resulted in our oceans, for the first time in history, being given their
own voice in the Post-15 Agenda. It would be hard to achieve other agreed Sustainable Development Goals without a healthy and resilient ocean.
Out of the ambitious 17 Goals, WATO’s primary mission will be supporting SIX of those Goals. Most specifically a champion enthusiast of:
Goal 2. Food Security: Billions of people are directly dependent on the food and protein the ocean produces
Goal 4. Education
Goal 12. Sustainable Consumption and production: sustainable fishing and
conservations provide economic opportunities for the most vulnerable
Goal 13. Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts
Goal 14. Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine
resources for sustainable development
Goal 15. Biodiversity: an estimated 70% of all life on earth is found in the ocean, protecting marine ecosystems is imperative
Please remember, If the oceans die, we die.