Meet our Early Career Ocean Professionals: Joana Cartolano Leal
Joana Cartolano Leal is based in Lisbon, Portugal, and works as a biologist in the conservation team of SeaTheFuture – a ‘crowdsaving’ movement which fundraises for ocean conservation projects.
1. Hi Joana! Can you tell us about the Ocean’s influence on you growing up, and what is unique about your perspective/motivation – how has it shaped your career path?
I was not necessarily raised in the most Ocean-based family. It’s an interest and love I cultivated myself as I grew older and realized where I would enjoy spending most my time. Any form of activity that would involve being over or under water were somehow appealing and so ultimately a lot of my free time was spent with the sea. I took a few turns in my career path – but ultimately it just made sense to me that my working hours would be spent trying to protect or conserve the thing I most enjoyed in my spare time
2. How does your work fit into the UN Decade of Ocean Science?
SeaTheFuture is working towards two challenges set by the UN Decade of Ocean Science: “To protect and restore ecosystems and biodiversity”, and to “change humanity’s relationship with the ocean”.
SeaTheFuture is protecting and restoring the ocean by providing a new stream of funding towards ocean conservation projects, allowing them to consolidate or scale their impact. Around 50,000€ has already been gathered and distributed to projects. To do this, we produce diverse forms of content about the project work and impact and try to spread the word about the incredible work they are doing to our community of ocean lovers.
SeaTheFuture wants change humanities relationship with the ocean by putting back the sense of agency to those who want to contribute to the ocean. In a time where climate anxiety can cause action paralysis in people who care and want to help the ocean, SeaTheFuture hopes to break this cycle and demonstrate the strength of collective action towards a common goal.
Once people have donated to a project – SeaTheFuture will regularly update them on project progress. This way, people can begin to appreciate how their choices make changes and how – when put together – their small individual actions can have a big impact.
Can you imagine the impact of 1 million people donating 1 euro per month towards ocean conservation?
Joana and the Seathefuture team, who are ordinary people united by the love of the ocean. They are scientists, volunteers, and enthusiasts, love the salt on their hands and the sun on their skin, they live by the sea and work hard for its future..
3. Why is this work so important to you?
This work is important for me because I see its potential and I want to see it thrive. I think it will be good both for the Ocean and people. When I look around me, I see many people who want to do more to help the Ocean; but they aren’t sure how to do it or feel like their small contribution would never make a difference.
If we can give people the tools, confidence, and strength to act – and then reward them with by demonstrating the impact their choices had – we believe this will make people feel stronger themselves because they are behaving in a way that is aligned with their internal goals and beliefs.
The ocean has given us so much and I feel like its time for all of us ocean lovers to give back. If we can all spread the message of SeaTheFuture – it will be incredible for the movement we are creating.
4. Tell us about some of your recent achievements or highlights?
I’m so proud of the 8 projects we have onboard so far – the work they are doing is very relevant and I am very pleased to collaborate with them. We’ve recently also partnered with the the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Species Survival Commission (IUCN SCC). This vote of confidence in our mission is very motivating.
5. How do you think we can achieve “the science we need for the Ocean we want”?
We can achieve the science we need for the ocean we want by supporting and scaling incredible results-driven projects, such as the ones we have on our platform.
You can join SeaTheFuture by visiting their website and signing up to their newsletter. Learn more about the projects they support, including protecting endangered species like the green turtle in Sao Tome and the Mediterranean monk seal in Turkey. Stay up to date through their socials and even support them through their sustainable apparel shop, where proceeds go towards Ocean conservation.
