Beneath the Surface: Understanding Our Ocean
Dear SAWA community,
When we think about the ocean, many of us picture coastlines, holidays, or vast expanse of water stretching beyond the horizon. However, much of what makes the ocean so important is invisible to us: despite its influence, the ocean often occupies surprisingly little space in our everyday sustainability conversations.
Covering more than 70% of our planet, the ocean regulates climate, produces roughly half of the oxygen we breathe, absorbs significant amounts of carbon dioxide, and supports livelihoods, trade, food systems, and biodiversity on a global scale.
For many across MENA, the sea is also connected to a sense of home. The ocean is deeply woven into history and identity - from the Mediterranean to the Red Sea to the Arabian Gulf to beyond. These waters sustain millions of people, while simultaneously facing growing pressures from pollution, overexploitation, warming temperatures, and habitat degradation.
For this month’s newsletter, in recognition of World Oceans Day, we’re exploring what lies beneath the surface. Not only the ecosystems and species that inhabit our ocean, but also the often-overlooked ways they support life, economies, and overall stability across the world.
We hope this edition encourages reflection on our relationship with the ocean and why its protection matters - even for those of us who may live far from the coast.
Until next time,
The SAWA team
P.S.,
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Calling for Volunteers
We’re looking to grow our offering even further. Are you interested in volunteering with SAWA?
Fill out our interest form or email us at info@sawanetwork.me and we’ll be in touch. At the moment, we’re particularly looking for support with content and social media, as well as community engagement!
Happening this Weekend: SAWA UK Country Walk
Join us this Saturday, June 27 for a country walk just outside of London. This will be a great chance to meet members of the community - and perhaps reconnect with anyone you met during our last event - while enjoying the start of summer! We’ll be walking the Chess Valley Walk.
Interested in joining? Just RSVP through this Form and we’ll be in touch with logistics. Hope to see you there!
Dates to Watch
Each month, we spotlight a global or regional environmental date that resonates with SAWA’s mission.
June 8: World Oceans Day
This year’s World Oceans Day invites us to look beyond the shoreline and consider the many ways the ocean shapes our daily lives. For those of us in the MENA region, the sea is deeply intertwined with our history, economies, and identities. These waters support fisheries, tourism, trade, and livelihoods for millions of people, yet face growing pressures from a range of environmental and climate threats. World Oceans Day offers an opportunity to reflect on both our connection to these ecosystems and our responsibility to protect them.
June 16-18: Our Ocean Conference
Our Ocean Conference brings together governments, scientists, businesses, and civil society organisations to accelerate action on ocean conservation and sustainable use of marine resources. Discussions this year focused on marine biodiversity, pollution reduction, sustainable financing, fisheries, and strengthening international cooperation. For many countries across MENA, where coastal communities, ports, and marine industries play a significant economic role, these conversations carry particular relevance as nations navigate the challenge of balancing development with ocean health.
These discussions are especially timely as June marks the beginning of the annual coral bleaching season, which typically runs through September. Rising ocean temperatures continue to place immense stress on coral reef ecosystems, including some of those found in our region, underscoring the urgency of turning commitments into action.
What We’re Reading: Is the Ocean Becoming a Subprime Asset?
This month, we’re reading thought leadership from the World Economic Forum that draws an interesting, but deeply concerning, parallel between the 2008 financial crisis and the state of our oceans today.
The authors argue that many ocean-dependent industries - including fisheries, tourism, shipping, coastal development, and more - are operating as though the marine ecosystems underpinning them will remain healthy indefinitely. In reality, the natural assets that make these industries possible are increasingly under pressure from overexploitation, climate change, pollution, and habitat degradation.
Their comparison to the subprime mortgage crisis is provocative but compelling - just as financial markets once ignored the deteriorating quality of the assets underlying mortgage-backed securities, today’s economic systems often fail to account for the declining health of the ocean systems that support them. The result, they argue, is a growing disconnect between how marine resources are valued and their actual condition.
One takeaway that particularly resonated with us is the idea that the ocean is not simply an environmental issue, but also an economic asset of immense value. The article estimates that marine ecosystems support around USD 24 trillion in economic value globally, while simultaneously regulating climate systems, supporting biodiversity, and sustaining livelihoods for millions of people.
The piece ultimately makes a case for a different kind of blue economy, a more sustainable one: one that invests in restoration, resilience, and long-term stewardship rather than short-term extraction. It offers a powerful reminder that healthy economies depend on healthy ecosystems.
Read the full piece here.
Community Spotlight: Point to Point
This month we‘re spotlighting Point to Point - an Egypt based strategy and implementation advisory firm focused on revamping consumer companies. Their aim is to transform legacy family businesses across the West Asia North Africa region for sustainable growth and generations to come.
What does this look like practically? For start-ups, they support you on the journey from ideation to validation, through to delivery, working hand-in-hand to bring your product vision to life and to shelves and homes across the region.
For established companies navigating a changing market, they have a track record supporting restructuring, and financial growth to support profitability after periods of degrowth. Finally, for established players, their suite of advisory services cover the process up to IPO readiness.
Get in touch with the Point to Point team through SAWA member, Marwan Hassan, at marwan@pointopoint.com.
Sustainability in our markets needs to be embedded across businesses of all sizes and at all stages of their sustainability journey - part of that is understanding how this integrates at every stage of business planning from risk analysis through to financial planning and product launches.
Innovation Spotlight: Jordan’s Seas
To see this month’s theme in action, check out @thisisprojectsea on Instagram, an organisation in Jordan that organises clean up dives for a healthier Red Sea.
Careers Corner
In this corner, you’ll find a monthly roundup of impact-driven roles, opportunities and practical advice from the region and its diaspora. We also regularly share roundups on LinkedIn, so be sure to check out our page!
Jobs on the SAWA Radar:
EMEA
Director, Principal Giving - Global Energy Alliance (London, UK)
EMEA Sustainability & Climate Index Head - MSCI (London, UK)
AMER
Environmental Compliance and Sustainability Specialist - Honda (Indiana, US)
VP, Corporate Responsibility & Sustainability - Rayonier (Georgia, US)
Committee tip of the month:
“Today’s tip is a simple one from me, but I think it is more important than ever in today’s professional climate: ask for what you want.
While I know it can take time to figure out what you’re actually going for, I believe it is worth putting effort into first understanding what is driving you in a professional context, and then second practicing articulating what you want. This can be in the form of asking for a promotion as opposed to waiting for one, or even speaking aloud that you want to make a particular pivot, even if it feels a bit early. While I see many of us instinctually want to play our cards close to our chest, I have found over time that people can’t help you if they don’t know what you’re going after, and people generally want to help!” - Michelle, SAWA Co-Founder, based in London, UK.
Have a tip on careers that you’d like to share with the community? We’d love to hear it! Fill out this form for a feature.
Remembering Mona Khalil, Guardian of Lebanon’s Sea Turtles
This month, the community lost one of its most committed figures. Mona Khalil, who spent over 25 years protecting endangered sea turtles along Lebanon’s southern coast passed away on June 19, at the age of 76, from injuries sustained after an Israeli airstrike hit her home in Mansouri.
Mansouri beach is one of the most important nesting sites in the eastern Mediterranean for endangered loggerhead and green sea turtles. Each summer, females return to the shoreline where they were born to lay their eggs, and only a small fraction of those survive to adulthood, making nest protection very critical. For over two decades, Mona protected these nests from predators, pollution, and humans, to give them the best chance possible.
Her work was anchored in the Orange House Project, which she co-founded in 2000. What began as a modest eco-guesthouse grew into a wildlife sanctuary, a center for environmental education and research, and a gathering place for volunteers and scientists around the world. Through it, Mona documented marine life, trained volunteers, and had the beach a designated “hima”, a community-managed reserve rooted in local stewardship.
Through war, instability, and economic crisis, Mona refused to leave the beach. Her legacy is a reminder that conservation is often the work of those who choose to stay and care long after others have looked away. The turtles of Mansouri beach will return to shore each season, and her work lives through all those who Mona inspired.
Thank you, Mona, for all that you did.
Language of Environmental Justice
Each month, we spotlight a key term to help build shared understanding around intersectional sustainability.
June’s Term: Global Commons
Some of the most important resources on Earth do not belong to any one person, company, or country. These shared systems, often referred to as the global commons, include areas such as the high seas, rainforests, the atmosphere, and even outer space. While they may seem distant and conceptual, they provide benefits that all of us rely on, regardless of where we live.
The ocean is perhaps one of the clearest examples of this. It regulates our climate, supports biodiversity, and provides food and livelihoods for millions of people. Yet, as no single actor is responsible for the entire system, protecting it requires cooperation across borders and sectors.
From an environmental justice perspective, the concept of global commons raises important questions about responsibility and fairness: who should bear the costs of protecting shared resources? Who benefits most from their use? And how do we ensure that decisions about these systems account for the needs of communities who depend on them most directly?
These questions become increasingly relevant as pressures on the ocean grow. Issues such as overfishing, pollution, biodiversity loss, and climate change do not respect national boundaries. This makes collective stewardship essential.
As we reflect on the ocean this month, we invite you to consider:
What responsibilities come with sharing a resource that belongs to everyone?
How can international cooperation better protect the systems we all depend on?
Read more about the global commons here.
Stay Connected with SAWA
Stay connected with updates, opportunities, networking, events and more on our LinkedIn, Instagram and website.
Thank You
As we close this month’s edition, we hope you enjoyed our reflection on how the ocean connects countries, climates, economies, and ecosystems in ways that are easy to overlook in our day-to-day lives. Whether you live on a coastline or hundreds of kilometres inland, our futures remain tied to its health. The choices we make all eventually flow back to the same interconnected system.
For a region shaped by its coastlines and maritime heritage, understanding the ocean is more than a question of conservation: it becomes one of resilience and long-term prosperity.
At SAWA, we believe that building a sustainable future begins with understanding these connections and creating spaces where diverse perspectives can come together around them. Thank you for continuing to be part of that conversation.
With gratitude,
The SAWA Team