We are under-investing in ocean science. We need to know more about such harmful mechanisms as ocean acidification, warming, and pollution. So far, the oceans have protected us from the worst effects of climate change, but there is great uncertainty about their ability to continue to do so in the future.  

“Groundwater: making the invisible visible.” The theme of this World Water Day should make the world understand the fragility of the source of life we have underground, which must be urgently saved. Adequate management of agriculture, irrigation, and livestock is the fundamental pillar to stop the deterioration of groundwater that threatens food security and the world’s environmental balance.

The mountains of the southern tip of the South American continent take visitors to a journey back in time: its rivers and streams flow towards the ocean as they did in pre-industrial times, filled with pure water. Science has a privileged real-scale lab in Tierra del Fuego to study a unique ecosystem, in which water is the key factor that stores the ancestral secrets of life on Earth.

The Argo beacon launched by the vessel We Are Water during the last Barcelona World Race has spent two years drifting in the South Atlantic collecting valuable temperature and salinity data. The aim is to learn more about the ocean: the climate of the Earth depends on the health of its gigantic water body.

• The solid multidisciplinary formation of the skippers makes a two crew round-the-world trip like the Barcelona World Race possible.
• Climatology, meteorology, medicine and engineering are essential in single-handed and two-crew sailing.
• Organisation aboard an IMOCA 60 shows an analogy with the projects of the We Are Water Foundation which takes water and sanitation to deprived areas with the aim of sustainability.

• Bruno and Willy García repair the water treatment device while crossing the meridian of India.
• Managing drinking water on board is fundamental in order to finish the regatta and a constant invitation to reflection.

• Bruno and Willy García cross the first three meridians of the Foundation’s projects in the Barcelona World Race.
• The yachtsmen become first-hand witnesses to the climatic contrast of the Earth and invite us to reflect.
• The launch of the Argo buoy, the first scientific action of the We Are Water in the regatta.

• The We Are Water sails in a Barcelona World Race, pioneer in the projection of scientific knowledge and solidarity inherent in ocean sailing.
• Bruno and Willy García, skippers of the We Are Water, are exceptional carriers of the solidarity message of the Foundation in the 14 meridians of its projects and in 12 climatic zones of the planet.
• The need to understand that the health of the ocean is vital to contemplate a sustainable world is one of the main educational and communicative objectives of this third two-handed round the world regatta.