Educating and Inspiring a New Wave of Ocean Advocates at the Volvo Ocean Lovers Festival at the Sydney Coast Hope Spot

May 13, 2024

Featured image: Sunrise yoga. Photo © Mati Aravena

(SYDNEY, NEW SOUTH WALES, AUSTRALIA) –

Located along the New South Wales coast of Australia, the Sydney Coast Hope Spot is home to striking blue waters and a huge diversity of around 3,000 marine species. These species include over 600 species of vibrantly colored fish such as the protected weedy seadragon (Phyllopteryx taeniolatus), which is endemic to Australian waters, and the peculiar pineapple fish (Moncentris japonica), whose jaw hosts glow in the dark bacteria. The last mainland colony of the little penguin (Eudyptula minor), the smallest penguin in the world at only 33cm high can also be found in Sydney Harbor.

With such a diversity of marine life, Sydney’s coastal waters are the pride and joy of the region and host more than 13 million visitors each year. To take advantage of the Australians’ love of the ocean, the Volvo Ocean Lovers Festival was born. Founded in 2019, the festival is organized by Hope Spot Champions Anita Kolni, Lorna Parry and Carolyn Grant alongside an enthusiastic team of ocean lovers. The multi-day festival is an annual celebration of art, music and ideas that showcase some of the latest science, technology and innovations for helping the ocean.

“This was the biggest event yet with over 40,000 people showing their love for the ocean, including around 1,000 school students engaging in ocean-loving actions, education and art which help inspire the next generation to protect our ocean and marine environment. This really is a movement riding the wave of concern and passion to find out more and do something positive and hopeful for the ocean.” Anita Kolni, Sydney Coast Hope Spot Champion & Volvo Ocean Lovers Festival Co-founder.

Visitors had the opportunity to visit 40 ocean-friendly markets in the park, where they could meet eco-innovators and passionate ocean lovers showcasing a variety of products and projects designed to enhance or protect the ocean environment. There were also plenty of hands-on activities for families to get stuck into, including a beach clean up, workshops to create origami whales, sea creature plaster painting and a sand sculpture competition to promote the ocean species they want to see protected.

The festival hosted a number of art exhibitions including the ‘Litterarty’ competition where students from across Sydney expressed messages about the ocean through artworks created from collected waste.

Curated by Lorna Parry, the interactive Underwater Earth’s ‘Out of Sight, Out of Mind’ exhibition utilized virtual reality technology to allow visitors to dive into the underwater world across the globe.

In the days running up to the festival a Blue Solutions Summit was staged at the Australian National Maritime Museum. The solutions-focused summit hosted 170 of the nation’s top leaders in ocean advocacy and brought together blue business entrepreneurs, scientists and innovators to outline the challenges facing the ocean and identify opportunities for collaboration.

During the festival weekend itself, an Ocean Lovers Talks Program was held and attended by over 2,000 festival goers. Attendees were afforded the opportunity to listen, learn and be inspired by over 100 ocean champion speakers including leading campaigners and scientists.Over 20 topics were covered including solutions to ending plastic pollution, the amazing traits of algae and discussions on deep sea exploration.

The Volvo Ocean Lovers Festival aims to engage and inspire the public as well as call to action industry and businesses, NGOs, scientists and innovators to start working together for a healthier ocean. Mission Blue wishes the Hope Spot Champions and festival organizers all the best for a bigger and even more impactful festival in 2025.