Sport has a social dynamic that can connect people from different cultures, ages, and communities. In the case of environmental projects, collaboration with athletes allows them to disseminate the ecological message, thus reaching wider audiences, informing the public about the importance of conserving coastal ecosystems.
In the Emc2 project “Exploring White Crowberry Coastal Habitats” whose initiatives take place in coastal areas, the athletes who were invited and accepted, in July 2025, to become “Biodiversity Ambassadors” are two Portuguese windsurfers with highly successful windsurfing careers: Margarida Gil Morais (POR 16) and João Rodrigues (POR 7).
The Emc2 project coordinated by M. Alexandra Abreu Lima (Researcher at MARE-NOVA/ARNET and INIAV, I.P.), – herself a windsurfer at an amateur level- considers that windsurf, as a sport mainly linked to the sea and coastal zones is therefore, able to be a good platform to help athletes convey ecological messages about coastal ecosystems. It is expected that at windsurfing events and/or in publications about them, and whenever appropriate, the Biodiversity Ambassadors will raise awareness about the importance of dune systems and the conservation of their natural resources, which include endemic plants such as the ‘white crowberry’ (camarinha, in PT; camarina, in SP), a peculiar wind pollinated plant, with white edible fruits, whose range is declining along the coast of the Iberian Peninsula.
The Emc2 Project is funded by the Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT, Portugal), through the strategic projects UIDB/04292/2020 and UIDP/04292/2020 granted to MARE – Center for Marine and Environmental Sciences, and project LA/P/0069/2020 granted to the Associated Laboratory ARNET – Aquatic Research Network
More info:
https://www.mare-centre.pt/pt/sociedade/programas-educativos/emc2
