Monaco professional football increasingly commits to the environmental cause. On the 17th April 2023, AS Monaco, the most popular national football club, signed a partnership agreement with the Oceanographic Institute to score a very special goal. The main mission is to cooperate for raising awareness on ocean and marine biodiversity preservation. International sportspeople and clubs are more and more involved in the sustainability cause based on some common values. For the past few months, the Monegasque Red & White Football Club has already marked an eco-responsible step joining the Commerce Engagé Label through the launch of a specific project, Ruches Rouges & Blanches, to raise awareness on the preservation of biodiversity with focus on the emblematic role of bees.
Robert Calcagno, Director General of the Institute of Oceanography, underlined:
« Our mission is to reveal, transmit and amplify the connection between Ocean, People and various Species. It involves specifically educational tours addressed to young people, as well as sport engagement, acting as a driving force for a huge audience... It is therefore essential to join forces and fervently commit to Ocean preservation. All this allows players, supporters, fans, amateurs or spectators to become ambassadors of the Ocean as a natural consequence ».
Ben Lambrecht, Managing Director of AS Monaco, stated: « Having regard to the geographical location of the Principality, bordered by the Mediterranean Sea, AS Monaco has always kept a special sensitivity for the marine world. So, it was natural to approach the Oceanographic Institute, that is a real reference in this area (...) in order to find something useful to do. Through this partnership, we want to involve all members of the Club to act as sounding board to raise awareness on the importance of protecting the Ocean and its biodiversity among our supporters and as many contact as possible ».
The purpose of the signed agreement is to implement a series of joint actions carried out by the AS Monaco under the supervision of the Oceanographic Institute that has been taking a unifying role for along time with the scope of bringing together political and economic decision-makers, opinion leaders and the civil society. By the will of H.S.H. Prince Albert II of Monaco, the aim is to promote the building of a common ecological awareness on marine ecosystems.
Within the partnership agreement ceremony, the new generation of footballers part of the AS Monaco Academy made a special guided tour of the Oceanographic Museum and its new spaces (exhibition, aquarium, reserve) to be sensitised to the powerful beauty and delicate balance of the Marine World. ***
To know more about the Oceanographic Institute and AS Monaco please visit: Musée Océanographique and AS Monaco Official Website.
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By Maurice Abbati
Springer International Publishing
