Mare Nostrum is the advanced, university‑level chapter of the Guardians of GAIA learning arc, designed as an events program and academic expedition that complements formal study.
Following the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, this initiative was developed by GAIA FIRST to both educate and empower youth in the region in taking ownership of their shared seas — an ecosystem which is deeply under threat. The Mediterranean is one of the planet’s most biodiverse and most threatened waters. Hosting roughly 11% of all known marine species in less than 1% of the world’s ocean surface, the region is fighting an uphill struggle against plastic pollution, underwater noise, habitat loss, and climate change.
The roadblocks to tackling environmental degradation span across disciplines and sectors. The Mare Nostrum program has been crafted with this in mind, offering youths engagement opportunities at various levels and locations, spanning across cultural, scientific, social and wellbeing topics. The six weeks across which the first two expeditions take place marks both the calendar period through which events activate successively across the seven ports, as well as the beginning of a three-year research network.
Over these three‑week legs, the Pelican of London sails between Monaco, Nice, Palermo, Tunisia, Carthage, and Tangier, each near a Marine Protected Area that becomes a field site and cultural anchor.
At every stopover, Mare Nostrum opens its “floating think tank” to the wider public.
In each port, [more than 100 young people?] join free workshops, story circles, public talks, and citizen‑science activities, co-created with local universities, schools, NGOs, fishers, Indigenous and local Knowledge Holders, and cultural actors.
These events are open to local youth and schools at no cost, creating a shared space where shipboard students and city‑based participants explore Marine Protected Areas, traditional knowledge, and practical coastal solutions together.
Students live and learn together at sea, following an interdisciplinary curriculum that blends marine science, cultural diplomacy, traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) and systems thinking for ecological resilience.
Daily life is a continuous learning loop: watch duties, field research, seminars, logbook writing, and collective reflection, all within a close‑knit, high‑responsibility community.
Participants are selected for curiosity, emotional maturity, and readiness to contribute; the experience is demanding but non‑competitive, and designed for both academic and personal transformation rather than performance.
Guardians of GAIA is GAIA FIRST’s global education program, engaging youth from K‑12 to university level, building a network of students, schools, Knowledge Holders, and communities focused on cultural and natural heritage.
It aims to integrate traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) into the formal education systems through school‑based initiatives and youth hubs, aligned with UNESCO priorities on education for sustainable development, intangible heritage, and intercultural dialogue.
The program includes Mare Nostrum 2026, as well as [future expeditions planned in Australia, the Indian Ocean, and the Caribbean].
By 2030, Guardians of GAIA plans to establish 150 regional hubs across 60 countries, each following a measurable three‑year conservation cycle connected through the GAIA FIRST digital platform.
GAIA FIRST is an NGO headquartered in Paris, Mumbai, and Miami, dedicated to innovation, conservation of cultural and natural heritage, and education.
Our mission is to build a world where we live in symbiosis with our environment. Indigenous territories span about 22%–25% of the planet’s land area and overlap with, by some estimates, a half of areas which are currently considered critical for biodiversity. These lands typically maintain much better ecological health than non-Indigenous lands. How can we support communities across the world to learn from these practices, to innovate new approaches and to become better guardians of their environments?
We are an international operation supporting grassroots movements and facilitating programs spanning many disciplines. We engage in projects at all levels, from hyper-local initiatives to international collaborations. From Paris to Mumbai to Miami, we bring together people from all walks of life, creating a network of stewards across generations.