Fishing our way out of the ocean crisis
How can design methodologies help us find solutions to preserve our oceans?
We use design methodologies on a daily basis to solve our client’s problems, but…what would happen if we used these methodologies to solve problems affecting the Earth’s largest ecosystem — the ocean?
We are three service designers who have a genuine passion for sustainability. We know the ocean is essential for all life on Earth, so we wanted to take action from our design capabilities. To make it possible, we gathered a team of Globers (that’s how employees are called in Globant — the company we all work at!) from various studios and hosted a series of 10 co-creation workshops. This discovery was a 10-week process with 1 workshop per week. We divided the entire discovery into three main phases: research, ideation, and definition. In this article, we will share an overview of each one of these phases with their respective highlights and takeaways.
01. Research
We first focused on understanding the broader problems surrounding the ocean’s pollution without going too granular. We had time to unfold the complexity of the challenges around the ecosystem. We looked at data regarding climate change, biodiversity loss, and social and environmental injustice.
We found some facts that allowed us to commensurate the dimension of the problems:
- 75% of the Earth’s surface is occupied by oceans which contain 97% of the water.
- Ocean ecosystems are essential for life on Earth, 40% of the carbon dioxide produced by humans is absorbed by the ocean.
- The ocean is warming and sea levels are rising.
- Ocean’s pH is acidifying, glaciers are shrinking and permafrost temperatures are increasing.
In more economic terms:
- The Natural capital of the ocean is valued at around 24 billion dollars.
- The fishing industry employs more than 200 million people.
- There is no uniform distribution between industrial and small-scale fishing. Industrial fisheries cover half of the ocean and are owned by a few. Small-scale fisheries depend on 90% of commercial fishermen and catch half of the fish.
- Costs and benefits also have been unequally distributed across populations and regions. Ocean degradation has negative impacts on food security, water resources, water quality, livelihoods, health and well-being, infrastructure, transportation, tourism, and recreation.
We had a lot of information and we have to admit that it was not easy to organize it. To converge we used a fishbone diagram, where we grouped and determined the main causes of the ocean’s most pressing problems.
We identified plastic pollution, overfishing, spills, and chemical pollutants as the root causes of 3 main problems: biodiversity loss, climate change, and habitat destruction. To complement the fishbone, we created a stakeholder map to identify the main actors involved.
Among the direct dependent industries, we found fishing, tourism, and oil & gas. As for indirect influencers, we can see the petrochemical, fast fashion, and agriculture industries.
Coastal communities also have a strong dependency on the oceans. Governments, NGOs, and activists who try to protect the ocean are also part of this ecosystem. Even we, as consumers of ocean goods, are stakeholders as well.
Having identified many different root causes, we voted for the two challenges that we were more interested in further addressing. These were plastic pollution and overfishing. We then conducted more focused research, aiming to find initiatives related to these two pressing issues.
Initiatives related to plastic pollution:
- Guides to comply with the EU corporate sustainability directives.
- A Chilean app that gives bitcoins if you recycle.
- Satellite monitoring of ecosystems.
- A collaboration between Rappi and Coca-Cola to recycle PET waste.
- A Spanish man trains birds to pick up plastics.
- The work of Marce “La Recicladora”, an influencer dedicated to promoting recycling.
Initiatives related to overfishing:
- Projects to preserve artisanal fishing techniques and to make them more sustainable in Tumaco (artisanal fishing, business model) and Chocó.
- Citizen science initiatives.
- Bioacoustics to preserve ocean species.
- Space-based monitoring to regulate fishing.
- Development of techniques to make fishing more sustainable (a University of Exeter initiative and another from the United Nations.
- Drones to monitor and preserve species, indigenous territories, and ecosystems.
- A web system to provide information about oceanographic conditions and fishing activities to make more informed decisions.
02. Ideation
Taking those ideas as inspiration, we held an ideation and brainstorming workshop to propose our own. These are just some of our favorites:
Ideas related to plastics:
- Plastics monitoring with satellite images and AI
- The use of drones or collaboration with birds to pick up plastics
- To make campaigns to gamify plastics recollection
- Agreements with government organizations to push recollection networks
- Alliances with institutions to improve recycling rates.
Ideas related to overfishing:
- Bioacoustics and AI to assess biodiversity
- Use blockchain technology to certify the fish source
- Fishing nets to detect endangered species
- Co-creation with communities to improve ancestral fishing technologies
03. Definition
With so many ideas, we decided to vote for the most disruptive, technological, and inclusive ones. The winners were plastics monitoring with satellite images and AI and bioacoustics and AI to assess biodiversity.
The first idea is a platform to monitor plastic hot spots in the ocean, with this we seek to predict the most polluted areas, identify and categorize plastics and advise companies. The monitoring is based on satellite images and drones to capture images and artificial intelligence to process the information and portray it in an interactive dashboard. This solution would require us to look for a partnership with marine cleaning companies and large companies that aim to reduce their garbage.
It is important to stress that the scale of the problem is massive; some plastic islands in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch are even three times the size of France. All this plastic is created and consumed on land but it ends up in the ocean as a never-ending ocean fill.
The second idea is a waterborne device that measures biodiversity and endangered species. With this tool we would seek to detect and analyze marine biodiversity sounds, track illegal fishing activities, recommend fishing zones depending on location and time of the year, inform companies and individuals about the status of ocean species, promote a mindset change through data analysis; and constantly monitor all of these issues. It would work through bioacoustics that would then transfer the information to an interactive dashboard and map. With this tool, we could provide solutions to regulators, the government, oil, and fishing companies to magnify their impact.
Improving biodiversity assessments is essential to preserve our oceans since fish stocks are overexploited when fish catch exceeds the maximum sustainable yield. And, this yield is precisely the rate at which fish populations can regenerate.
In conclusion, we could see that the use of design methodologies can play a significant role in addressing the challenges of ocean preservation. By employing a planet-centered approach, we, as designers, can better understand the needs of the stakeholders involved, identify critical issues, and develop innovative solutions that are efficient, effective, and sustainable. Whether it is through the use of bioacoustics, plastics monitoring, or ocean data, there are many ways in which design can contribute to preserving our oceans and their delicate ecosystems.
Moving forward, we plan to choose the most promising idea and organize another series of workshops to identify possible partnerships, analyze technological feasibility, and create prototypes that will be refined until we reach a final design that meets the project goals and user needs.
. . .
Karla has a background in industrial design but over the last couple of years, she has developed a keen interest in sustainability. She strongly believes that service design can play a crucial role in promoting sustainable practices and making a positive impact on the planet. Karla has worked on a variety of projects across different industries, collaborating with multidisciplinary teams to design and deliver services that are not only effective and efficient but also prioritize sustainability.
Valentina is a Service & Strategist Designer with an Industrial Design background and a strong interest in Sustainability. She has worked on various projects where Technology and Design play a crucial role in creating Sustainable solutions and is looking to continue her path in developing environmentally responsible products and services.
Maria is interested in the intersection between design, ethics, and sustainability. She is a lawyer from the University of The Andes in Bogotá, who then pursued an MA in Innovation Management in Central Saint Martins in London. She has worked as a service designer in a range of digital and non-digital transformation projects based in the United Kingdom, Europe, Latin America, and the United States.
Alejandro is a Science & Technology Studies Master’s Student at the National University of Colombia and a Graphic Designer from the same institution. He has a professional trajectory where is involved in design and innovation projects and an academic one focused on social and environmental justice. Currently, he is trying to make those two interests converge.
Alan is a Computer Science Orientation (UNLP), Environmental Sciences Master (UCES), and SDG Promotor (OPDS). Alan has experience in the software industry with a background in Graph databases and sustainability topics. With a BS in Computer Science Orientation (UNLP), Environmental Sciences Master (UCES), and SDG Promotor (OPDS) he is always looking to solve problems where Biosphere and Technosphere meet.
#sustainability #ocean #oceanpreservation #designthinking #servicedesign #innovation
