Ott 14 Lo sapevate che ...?

WSR oltre essere stato l'acronimo di Windsurf-Roma e ora di Water Snow & Rock, ha anche un altro significato internazionale. WSR: World Surfing Reserves. E' una iniziativa che identifica e custodisce le onde, gli spot dedicati al surf ed il loro ambiente circostante  allo scopo di creare una rete di riserve naturali dedicate al surf riconosciute a livello internazionale e regionale. L'iniziativa si svolge con il coordinamento e la collaborazione delle comunità e dei rappresentanti  del surf mondiale ed il lavoro delle comunità locali per selezionare e individuare le aree o località che meglio rappresentano i criteri "WSR".

WSR Manifesto 

If surfers won’t save the world, who will? Obama? The G20? The United Nations?

Is there some other global network of alert, persistent, environmentally aware individuals who
are similarly trained in the art of navigating variables, overcoming adversity, and appreciating the rarities of perfection? Who else will do the work? Who else will uphold the vision?

It’s pretty ironic. Surfing is all about getting away from the constraints of society, of breaking free and committing to the rule of natural law—the physics of wave form, the glide. Surfers are conversant with the wild, in touch with the natural world at a time when the natural world is increasingly remote from most people on the planet.

And yet here we are, using words like “criteria” and “nomination” and “enshrinement” and “stewardship.”

Creating a chain of World Surfing Reserves may not in itself save the world, but it’s a step in that direction. By acknowledging the worth of a wave and its environs, we open communication between disparate parties that might not otherwise become engaged. And once communication begins, who knows where it will lead?

A WSR that is fully embraced at the local, national, and global levels—where it becomes an asset not merely for surfers and beach-lovers, but for the bioregional community of which it is a part—improves the quality of life of the whole.

The bubble provided by the WSR designation should act as a semi-permeable membrane, enabling sustainable activities while resisting the intrusion of the grosser monoliths of unchecked development, such as landfills, breakwaters and mining operations. The mere existence of the WSR will act as a tactical wedge that inserts itself into every future discussion concerning the destiny of the reserve area.

A WSR increases the chances of environmental synergy, integrating the principles of preservation, sustainability, stewardship, and cultural celebration. It permanently vests a surf spot with an intrinsic (and globally acknowledged) importance that locals already understand but may not be able to articulate.

The WSR says that these people—representing a global community of like-minded individuals—hereby value this place, right here, and intend to hold it sacred for as long as the waves break and the tides cycle. In other words, each local monument is a symbol for the greater monument that is the worldwide network of World Surfing Reserves, dedicated forward for the benefit of present and future generations.

Over time threats will come, one by one, to all of the world’s great surf spots, and over time, again and again, they will be compromised. And in the end, the enshrinements we make now may be the deciding factor that saves a beach or a surf spot or a park … or just a jewel of the natural world.

World Surfing Reserves is about surfers saving the world, one wave at a time. And while it may not guarantee that a beach or a wave will be saved, it does forever commemorate the global surfing community’s demand that it must be.

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