A part of
Led by legendary oceanographer Dr. Sylvia Earle, Mission Blue is uniting a global coalition to boost public awareness, access, and support for a worldwide network of marine protected areas. These Hope Spots are the Earth’s blue heart and are critical to the health of our ocean.
Our Lesvos Mission Blue hope Spot represents life. It’s a Hope Spot for all that’s living and nurtured by our marine areas and waters. It signifies hope and peace, and it should be honored, respected, and protected for those who will come to enjoy and use it during our lifetime and after.
Having a Hope Spot presence in Lesvos, and Greece overall, is crucial. We have extensive coastlines and marine ecosystems that exist side by side with many commercial, fishing, and shipping activities.
In the height of the European humanitarian crisis, Lesvos saw an increasingly negative impact on marine life, caused by plastic litter and other marine waste. The fisheries are declining at an alarming pace. Local tourism needs support and differentiation and many local people are looking for alternative ways to boost quality of life and income.
Chosen for its special abundance of migratory species, significant historical-cultural value and economic importance to the community, the Lesvos Mission Blue Hope Spot has the potential to reverse the negative impact caused by humans in recent years.
Near ancient Mythimna, a few miles from Avlaki, there are a number of caves where monk seals give birth.
Also, the little island of St. George is a breeding and nesting ground for protected bird species, like the yellow-beaked seagull.
Lesvos Mission Blue Project, aims to highlight the sustainable advantages, and the significance of the Avlaki Hope Spot case – a unique natural ecosystem – for the sustenance and wellbeing of Lesvos, and the wider Aegean.
Lesvos was the first island in the Aegean to be recognised as a Mission Blue Hope Spot in council with the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
Our mission is to establish this beautiful area into a no-take marine protected area (MPA) to help accelerate Greece’s pledge at IUCN 2021 to action directives and policy agreed upon with world leaders for Agenda 2030 and the SDGs.
It’s important to have a no-take MPA on Lesvos, due to the presence of extensive frontier borders, coastlines and marine ecosystems that exist side-by-side with a high volume of commercial, fishing and shipping activities. As in most of the Aegean, fishing and other human impacts over the centuries have degraded marine environment, as is the case in Avlaki.
Lesvos Mission Blue is collaborating with the best scientists, academia, and science and applies proper methodology and equipment to drive the preservation of the area together with experts on issues of policy, citizens and society itself.
Mission Blue is uniting a global coalition to inspire an upwelling of public awareness, access and support for a worldwide network of marine protected areas – Hope Spots. Presently, the Mission Blue marine protected network includes more than 200 respected ocean conservation groups and like-minded organizations, from large multinational companies to individual scientific teams doing important research. With the concerted effort and passion of people and organizations around the world, Hope Spots can become a reality and form a global network of marine protected areas large enough to restore the ocean and sea – the blue heart of the planet.From the seamounts of the high seas to the shallow sunlit reefs, Mission Blue partnered with the likes of, Healing Lesvos for Avlaki to bring about a significant increase in ocean and sea protection from less than 6% today to 30% by the year 2030.
Under Dr Sylvia Earle’s leadership, the Mission Blue team has embarked on a series of efforts to further this vision and promote Hope Spots. What makes Hope Spots special is that it’s the only global platform for recognising places in the marine world that comes from the global community. They’re about recognizing, empowering and supporting individuals and communities around the world in their efforts to protect the ocean and sea. In the end, the goal through Hope Spots is to create a wave of support for ocean and sea conservation that leaders and policy makers can’t ignore.
