UN Conference in Nice, Med25 Bel-Espoir was there

In Nice, on June 12th, for the United Nations Conference on the Ocean, UNOC3, Med25 Bel Espoir was present represented by Father Alexis Leproux, Laetitia who supports A.Leproux in the organization of med25 and Romain young participant of med24 and med25, in civic service in charge of communication. 

We presented the project and the vocation of the Mediterranean meetings during an afternoon dedicated to youth initiatives. 

Father Alexis Leproux

"The Mediterranean Meetings project was based on a simple observation: the sea, like the sky, has no borders. The dangers that threaten it come primarily from our wars, our ways of life, our indifference to life, economic imbalances, and political tensions. Maintaining peace is a huge challenge for international organizations, an essential prerequisite for any agreement that will preserve our planet, our seas, and our oceans in particular. Peace is learned and built.

To this end, we wanted to engage the youth of our Mediterranean shores in a school of peace, starting today. Of course, young people do not yet bear the responsibility for the major decisions that will protect our environment tomorrow, but they can already, through the way they build their future, both personal and collective, integrate these two components that we believe are vital for the preservation of the Mediterranean: watching it and listening to it so as not to let it wither away; uniting in a process of international and Mediterranean solidarity in particular to protect it.

Our two principles: Navigate to understand it, unite to preserve it.

The experience of sailing is a first, foundational step in raising awareness. Young people discover that the sea is not a shared sewer but a cradle, a basin where life is abundant. Its biodiversity, both underwater and coastal, is crucial to its balance. Seeing and hearing it are educational steps worth more than many political slogans. By living in a large biome, we receive an object lesson. The Bel Espoir is the symbol of this popular and fraternal education at the school of the sea that we desire for our future.

The experience of cultural dialogue is a second founding step in understanding that we cannot act alone, that we must know each other to learn to unite, that this is how we find the answers to these challenges. Cultural diversity and collective learning allow us to integrate united and coordinated ways of acting. Learning to act together requires knowing each other and being at peace. Rivalry and the particular interests of inward-looking states make decisions that will save our oceans impossible. Peace is that necessary good that is not simply the absence of war. It is a constant commitment to cooperation.

I thank the international and national authorities and local authorities for their invitation and support.

Roman

“The horizon. A line there, at the end of the sea. It joins the sea to the sky, the sky to the sea. It is not inert, nor an end, no, it is eloquent of openness, the horizon is the straight line that leads to the dialogue between worlds. It accompanies us to believe in what we cannot see. The horizon opens our gaze, our consciousness, our imagination. It invites us to dive into it, it attracts us, and it almost pushes us to follow it. 

The Bel-Espoir, the boat that has been plying the Mediterranean since the beginning of March, crosses the waters with this horizon as its course. On board, young people from the Mediterranean believe in the power of this call. Their courage is palpable; they are committed to building peace through dialogue and preserving our common home. The Bel-Espoir is a living intuition that speaks in the silence of the water, the clamor of the sea, its suffering, its pain, the anger of the people who live alongside it. The blue waters of the Mediterranean sometimes mix with the blood of those who cross it, believing in this horizon, because it remains fragile. 

The sea and peace. The dialogue of water and the absolute quest for each person's heart. This is what I embarked on.

I encountered immensity, this home that is foreign to me but to which I am not a stranger. This body of water is home to so many species. There beneath our feet, they look down on us from the depths. The sea is their home, their lungs, their refuge, their habitat, their mountains and valleys, their trees and fields, their families and friends. 

The sea moves us, it shakes us deeply, it crushes us at first by the pain it causes, seasickness brings us back to reconnect with our limited condition. The sea humanizes us, it brings us back to the surface, neither higher nor lower. Our captain on the boat told us on the first day: “the sea first cleanses us,” what does that mean? On board we barely know each other when we exchange the first trying hours. 

This immensity, this intensity, this authenticity, frees us from our boundaries. We lose our bearings, the body is destabilized, the heart is vague, and yet when everything settles, we are renewed, we breathe a youthful freedom. 

The spirit then escapes outside the hull of the boat, accompanied by the dance of the dolphins in the night of the water, the infinity of the array of stars which lets the sails move before it, the sound of the swell which embraces the boat, the sun and the moon which converse every day. The life which expresses itself is so rare for the eyes, that at sea they rejoice in little. 

Laetitia 

“Under this starry sky, this universe that amazes us is truly our “common home”. A priceless asset, far from being an infinite resource, and above all a common asset: by definition, it is only together that we can succeed in taking care of it and using it with moderation. 

When we share a space, the very sharing of this space forces us to act together, in cooperation: everyone has experienced this as simply as at home, with a shared apartment, or with family: even if I carefully wash my dishes after each meal, if my shared apartment doesn't do the same, the sink remains dirty and cluttered.

The same is true for the Mediterranean Sea: this treasure of biodiversity obliges us: no one can act alone and cooperation between the peoples who live along its shores is an essential prerequisite for the preservation of this jewel that brings us together.

But far from being a constraint, sharing this sea is a chance, an opportunity.

This is the conviction that inhabits the Odyssey of the Beautiful Hope: rather than seeing this sea as a space that divides us, a border sea or even an open-air tomb, we wish to make the Mediterranean a liquid continent that unites us, a sea of peace. Thus, the composition of the groups of young people who leave for each of the 8 sessions, from Barcelona to Marseille via Tetouan, Bizerte, Durrës, Jounieh or Istanbul, reflects the diversity of the 5 shores of the Mediterranean; and life on board integrates our otherness in a desire to carry out the protection of this sea together. 

Obviously, we cannot ignore our disparities and we must have the courage to look at what divides us: conflicts, competition for energy (oil, gas), the responsibility of multinationals, interference from foreign powers that fuel conflicts or profit from them, unfinished national construction; significant differences in living standards that push the most disadvantaged to emigrate. 

The ecological question is addressed very differently depending on the shore. How can we compare Istanbul, Barcelona, or Beirut with their small fishing ports, wild coastlines, or numerous islands dotting the sea? Even between two large metropolises that face each other: what a contrast between Monaco and Alexandria. The constraints are not the same in a city like Alexandria, with its 6 million inhabitants, is already struggling to provide them with drinking water and ensure proper management of household waste collection. We are pleased to see the commitment of local authorities here, such as the Southern Region, a pilot territory in terms of ecological transition.

And yet, saving the sea cannot happen without our united, coordinated action. The climate emergency is also an emergency of solidarity that must challenge our lifestyles and force us to work together for peace.

Also, on board the Bel Espoir, we learn to live, not alongside each other, in feigned ignorance, each according to his or her culture and concerns, but with each other. with the others, the ones For others and often even, some inspiring and being inspired by others. Life on board is an incubator for what must be experienced on the scale of our shores. Those who are comfortable with environmental issues accompany those who are discovering them for the first time. Careful resource management is a daily concern, particularly with regard to water and electricity, because resources on board are limited. Thus, taking a shower or charging your phone become concrete actions that require careful consideration. Waste reduction, of course, and constant attention to ensure nothing floats away into the azure blue of the sea that surrounds us.

Working groups and conferences provide an opportunity to cross-reference our realities: for example, Marc, a 29-year-old Egyptian living in Alexandria, told us how surprised and impressed he was to meet young people who had traveled by train to Palermo in Sicily, as they no longer fly for environmental reasons. More trivial everyday actions, such as reusing the same tea bag several times, are also a simple opportunity for a discussion on reasonable and responsible consumption.

This experience aboard the Bel Espoir is seen as a catalyst for what we are called to experience every day, back home and sometimes at a distance from each other, but driven by the same conviction: this sea is our shared responsibility, we are all, together, responsible for this good. Building a culture of encounter and peace between peoples is an essential prerequisite for this.

We are asking for state support for our school of peace and solidarity:

• Through greater mobility for young people in training, we advocate for an Erasmus program in solidarity with the Mediterranean.
• Through the development of accessible and free educational and scientific resources
• By establishing a fund for education for peace and dialogue between cultures as a vector of an integral and united ecology, capable of engaging all the peoples of the Mediterranean.