Marathon sail promotes global warming awareness

By ROBIN BAILEY

Auckland City has big plans for the Volvo Ocean Race stopover in January. But long before the boats tie up at the Viaduct Basin for the three-and-a-half week break in the marathon sailing challenge, the event will have created thousands of young Kiwi followers.

The Volvo Group has included an environmental component to the race that will involve students here and around the world.

The programme has been set up with the support of 25 leading scientific partners from around the world, including the University of Auckland and Niwa (the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research).

Sensors attached to the hulls of each race boat will collect and record environmental information, including plankton levels, from the waters through which the fleet is racing. The data will be sent via satellite to Nasa in the United States and the Southampton Oceanographic Institute in England.

From the information gathered by the yachts, students around the world will be able to learn about the importance of phytoplankton, climate change and a raft of other environmental information. Phytoplankton absorbs 10 times more carbon dioxide than all the world's rainforests, so has far more impact on the global climate.

The programme was devised by the School of Ocean and Earth Science at the University of Southampton. Headed by Dr Simon Boxall, it has two main aims.

First, it sets out to increase knowledge of environmental issues connected with oceans, rivers and lakes and the world's climate system. It also hopes to engage young people in practical environmental work in their own communities.

"Children learn all about the rainforests and global warming," Dr Boxall said, "but they learn little about the oceans which cover two-thirds of our planet's surface."

The free web-based Volvo Ocean Adventure programme is designed for children of all ages, but has specific relevance for 10- to 16-year-olds. It will be available to New Zealand schools from next month.

Volvo Cars New Zealand general manager John Snaith says the Volvo Ocean Adventure has been designed to educate, excite, stimulate and motivate young people and to show them how they can have a positive impact on the environment through their actions.

In New Zealand the school-based education programme will invite students to enter projects into a national competition. The finalists will be judged in Auckland and the winning team of five students and a teacher will be invited to attend the Volvo Young Environmentalists Conference in Sweden late next year.

Mr Snaith says the Auckland stopover for the fleet will be as exciting as any of the past Whitbread events.

Making sure that is the case is the challenge facing Auckland City attractions committee chair Victoria Carter. It is one that the councillor is confident of meeting.

"In the past the race boats have been whisked away to various shipyards almost as soon as they reached port," she says. "This time they will go to the America's Cup compounds at the Viaduct Basin so the public can see them being worked on."

Auckland City is hosting the stopover and has adopted "family, fun and free" as the three themes for the festival while the yachts are here.

Already planned is a free eight-hour concert aimed at providing something for all ages. As well there will be interactive displays.