Evi Lazou – Laskaridis at the Concordia Summit: the ocean is the backbone of life on Earth

At the Concordia Annual Summit 2025 successful New York, the President of the Athanasios K. Laskaridis Public Benefit Foundation, Evi Lazou-Laskaridis, spoke astir our astir precious heritage: the sea. From the challenges of contamination to the powerfulness of corporate action, she presented the Foundation’s ambitious biology work, spearheaded by the Typhoon Project, and the message: “We are each portion of the problem. But we tin besides beryllium portion of the solution. We request to alteration our narration with the oversea and rewrite its past – due to the fact that we are the voices of the seas. Let’s articulation forces and make waves of alteration together.”

With references to Greek taste practice and planetary biology issues, helium began by noting that helium comes from “Greece – the birthplace of democracy, doctrine and the Olympic Games”. He recalled that the state is known for the Parthenon, Zorba and its gastronomy, but besides for thing little prominent: “This tiny country, the size of Alabama, has the 11th longest coastline successful the world.”

The world’s 11th largest successful Alabama, the 11th largest successful the world, is the 11th largest successful the satellite successful presumption of onshore area.

As helium stressed, the oversea is not lone a earthy scenery but “the backbone of our mode of life”. He stressed that tourism brings successful astir a 3rd of GDP and that “Greek shipowners power astir a 5th of the world’s merchant fleet”. From the clip of Odysseus to today’s ships carrying planetary trade, helium noted, “the oversea has ever been our root of life.”

He past emphasized that “we unrecorded connected a bluish satellite wherever 70% of the aboveground is covered by the ocean.” He pointed retired that “more than 50% of the oxygen we respire comes from the sea” and that it “regulates the climate, provides macromolecule for billions of people, supports the planetary system and is location to the top diverseness of beingness connected the planet.”

However, helium warned that “the water is nether siege” from pollution, overfishing, clime change, acidification and biodiversity loss. “Only 8.4% of the water is presently protected – and little than 3% is efficaciously protected,” helium noted.

He made peculiar notation to integrative pollution, saying it “chokes our seas, destroys ecosystems, threatens biodiversity and yet harms our ain health.” He pointed retired that microplastics person been recovered “in the aerial we breathe, the h2o we drink, the nutrient we eat… adjacent successful each quality organ.”

Speaking astir initiatives successful Greece, helium explained that the Foundation was established successful 2016 “to honour the practice of the oversea and to instrumentality responsibility”. He noted that it started with tiny awareness-raising actions, but soon moved connected to bolder projects.

He made a peculiar notation of the Typhoon Project, launched successful 2019 with “Typhoon”, a 72-meter vas that “cleans the inaccessible coasts of Greece daily, documents each find and operates non-stop 365 days a year”. As helium said, the vessel has carried retired much than 4,280 clean-ups and removed much than 873 tons of debris. “And yet,” helium said, “on the 2nd passages an 80% betterment is recorded. Simply put: the enactment is paying off.”

He besides presented the Cyclone Project, which was launched successful 2024 and focuses connected onshore clean-ups astir rivers, lakes and archaeological sites. “In little than a twelvemonth and a half, it has removed 1 and a fractional times the measurement of debris that Typhoon collected successful six years,” helium noted, noting that the volumes are respective times greater.

He besides pointed retired that the instauration is moving intimately with universities and NGOs, utilizing “ROVs, drones and artificial quality to observe and representation pollution.”

Concluding the speech, helium said: “The water is the backbone of beingness connected Earth. If the water dies, we die.” He called connected governments, technological bodies, individuals and citizens to instrumentality responsibility, saying that “from choosing a reusable solid to volunteering and raising consciousness – each enactment counts.”

“We are each portion of the problem, but we tin besides beryllium portion of the solution. Let’s articulation forces and make waves of change,” helium concluded.

The Concordia Annual Summit

The Concordia Annual Summit, 1 of the astir important planetary forums connected the aboriginal of the planet, was held this twelvemonth successful New York City from September 21-24, 2025. Each twelvemonth it brings unneurotic leaders of nations, planetary organizations, concern and civilian nine to physique partnerships and beforehand solutions to the world’s astir captious challenges.

On Tuesday, September 23, 2025, the President of the Athanasios K. Laskaridis Charitable Foundation, Evi Lazou-Laskaridis, spoke, highlighting not lone the Foundation’s enactment to support the marine situation – culminating successful the Typhoon Project, the largest backstage inaugural successful the Mediterranean against marine pollution – but besides its value for Greece itself.

Through its activities, the Foundation contributes substantially to the enactment of a caller planetary representation of Greece: a Greece that is simply a person successful biology extortion and an progressive subordinate successful the communal effort for a much sustainable future.