Ericeira World Surfing Reserve
10th anniversary of Ericeira (Portugal) recognition as World Surfing Reserve. A project financed by the European Commission, Qantara Sports; Bruno Avelar Rosa PhD, Partner in Portugal , Ismael Serrano, IT & Digital Learning Solutions Manager at Qantara Sports and Juanma Murua, Economist.
Aim and Purpose
The World Surfing Reserve recognition is granted by the Save the Waves Coalition programme that proactively identifies, designates and preserves outstanding waves, surf zones and surrounding environments around the world. The programme serves as a global model for preserving wave breaks and their surrounding areas by recognizing and protecting the key environmental, cultural, economic and community attributes of surfing areas. In the case of Ericeira, the World Surfing Reserve is a coastal strip of 4 km. that includes unique characteristics in every seven top-level surfing waves (Pedra Branca, Reef, Ribeira d’Ilhas, Cave, Crazy Left, Coxos and São Lourenço), their respective landscapes and ecosystems.
Besides being recognised as World Surfing Reserve, Ericeira is also a member of the World Surf Cities Network.
THE PROJECT
“Ericeira World Surfing Reserve +10” (EriceiraWSR+10) is a project developed by the Ericeira Surf Clube and co-funded by the European Commission, of 12 months duration. Its main highlight is a 1-week event dedicated to the topic of “surfing and sustainability” between 11th and 17th of October 2021. Leading up to this event and during the 12 months, there are different side-event activities seeking the promotion of healthy and sustainable communities through surfing and outdoor activities.
Ericeira’s WSR+10 project-specific objectives are
(1) understanding the impact of surfing in Ericeira,
(2) promoting awareness regarding the need for sustainable sports communities and
(3) developing a sustainable surfing community of practice.
To accomplish these objectives, the project follows the methodological approach of McCullough, Pfahl, and Ngueyn (2015) : the development and transformation of communities progressing through three waves of environmental sustainability.
Image source: McCullough et al. (2015, p. 10)
Each of these 3 waves includes the creation of several resources and the implementation of different activities, such as the organization of local conferences focusing on the relationship between the WSR and topics like territory, tourism, economy, sustainability and sport, the execution of a study to evaluate the impact of the 10 years of World Surfing Reserve in Ericeira, the development of an e-learning course focused on the topic of “surfing and sustainability” or the training of local youth as to be volunteers at the main event to be held in October.
Image: Qantara Sports’ partner in Portugal, Bruno Avelar Rosa, with Ericeira Surf Clube’s Board President, Mr. Miguel Barata de Almeida during the EriceiraWSR+10 opening ceremony.
Project's International Participants
11 organizations from 10 different countries are involved in the project
Ericeira Surf Club
Association Sports for All of Serbia
Austrian Surfing
Brettforbundet – Norwegian Board Association Norway
Hellenic Surf & Surf Association
Komporta Kirol Elkartea (Spain)
Lacanau Surf Club (France)
Patris Surf Club (Spain)
Surf Club de Viana (Portugal)
Surf Club Sylt (Germany)
Vela Go (Italy)
Young Lions (Poland)
Dr. Bruno Avelar, Qantara Sports partner in Portugal and Ismael Serrano, Qantara Sports Digital Learning Solutions Manager together with their team have been leading Qantara Sports involvement.
Qantara Sports in Portugal led the grant writing of the proposal to the European Commission under the Erasmus+ Sports programme (2020 call),
During the implementation phase, Qantara Sports has the following responsibilities :
- Leadership in the project impact evaluation
- Involvement in the 10 years of the World Surfing Reserve attribution impact study.
- Supervision offline and e-learning educational material on “Surfing and Sustainability”, this material follows Qantara Sports’ competency-based educational approach. The material will be available for free at Qantara Sports’ e-learning platform.
About us
Qantara Sports is a global sports consulting firm with significant expertise in the areas of Sports Education, Sports Governance, Sports Policy, Sports Business, Sports Development, Sports Tourism, Sports Diplomacy, Sport Tech, and Inclusivity.
Qantara sports has more than 20 years of global experience and has been 8 years in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia delivering successful projects, mentoring and empowering young local talent.
Qantara Sports uses deep international industry expertise and rigorous analysis to deliver and implement successful nationwide projects and help private and public sports organizations achieve practical results with real impact.
Contact us:
Qantara Sports
+351 926 060 485 portugal@qantarasports.com
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