On the occasion of the United Nations Conference on Ocean 2025 in progress in Nice, Prada e Unesco launch SEA BEYOND – Multi-Partner Trust Fund for Connecting People and Ocean. With an initial contribution of 2 million euros by Pradail SEA BEYOND Multi-Partner Trust Fund will mobilize the financial resources of different partners with the aim of helping to restore the relationship between humanity and the ocean – consistently with one of the objectives of Decade of the sea sciences for sustainable development coordinated by Unesco. The fund will be the first of its kind to support projects that integrate science, culture and education to the ocean in a synergistic and consistent way, supporting initiatives in five priority areas:
Priority areas
Blue education (to provide students with the knowledge and skills necessary to promote sustainable development, including ocean education in school programs); Empowerment and involvement of young people (to improve the knowledge and skills of young and professionals at the beginning of the career to effectively contribute to the discussions on the Ocean theme on several levels); Ocean culture and heritage (to improve the recognition of the critical role of the cultural connections between humanity and the ocean in facing global challenges and promoting sustainable development); Science-political-social interface (to promote an adequate representation of the needs of society in decision -making processes); Strategic communication and change of fiction (To develop the ability to create and disseminate targeted messages or actions focused on the challenges that the ocean must face, on sustainable responses and on practicable solutions).
Support of the Scientific Committee
The fund will be supported by a Scientific committeecomposed of well -known representatives of the scientific community in various areas of the ocean sciences and education to the ocean, which will provide technical opinions on the most urgent issues to be included in the calls. The projects that will benefit from the financial support will be selected with the support of the Scientific committee. Il Executive committee of the Fundits government body, will decide for consent.
Fund objectives
The establishment of the fund – which will welcome new partners starting from January 2026 – will increase consistency and reduce the fragmentation of the projects, offering a structured and systematic approach to the financing. It will also create synergies to improve cooperation between the interested parties of different sectors, as a meeting point between institutions, private companies, universities, NGOs, educators and scientific communities.
Declarations of the representatives
Audrey AzoulayGeneral manager ofUnescohe said: “We must protect the ocean and rethink our relationship with it; this change begins in the classrooms. Through SEA BEYONDl’Unesco e Prada Group They are giving strength to a new generation so that it can better understand and protect the ocean. This program will finance initiatives guided by young people in every continent, strengthening ocean education and culture “.
Per Lorenzo BertelliHead of Corporate Social Responsibility del Prada group ed Executive Director, Patron of the Ocean Decade Alliance“the final goal of the fund is to bring together partners who share the values and mission of SEA BEYOND starting from how much the Prada group e Unesco They have made from 2019 to today, and together creating an even wider movement for ocean education and its preservation. Through the fund, we don’t just want to design impact initiatives, but also to grow them, inserting theocean literacy in culture and global policies. It is a long -term commitment that looks to the future, because every child who is educated at the ocean brings us closer to a more sustainable and conscious world “.