Through the Institute of Marine Research (Vigo).
This is an initiative promoted by Fundación Diabetes Cero and Asociación Diabetes Madrid. It consists of a virtual race with 17 stops, each associated with one of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Through an app, participants count their steps and, once they reach each goal, the app shows them content related to that location and its associated SDG.
The IIM is the organisation selected for the only stage of this initiative in Galicia, in Pontevedra, dedicated to SDG 14, Life Below Water. It will take place from 29 October to 1 November, and the institute is contributing educational and recreational resources on ocean culture for participants.
Santiago de Compostela, 15 October 2020. The Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), through the Institute of Marine Research (IIM), is one of the collaborating organisations in “Tour of Spain for Diabetes. Kilometres for Diabetes”, a virtual initiative that began on 12 September and will end on 14 November. It consists of 17 stages, each linked to one of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The race is a collaborative, non-competitive challenge. Participants can take part individually or as a group. They use an app to count their steps and complete the stages. When they reach a goal, the app shows them content related to that location and its associated SDG.
In Galicia, the only stage of this initiative will take place in Pontevedra from 29 October to 1 November and is dedicated to SDG 14, Life Below Water. The IIM-CSIC is taking part because its multidisciplinary research aims to contribute to the SDGs in three main areas: oceans and climate, to predict changes and support actions to combat or mitigate their impact; marine biodiversity and conservation, to use oceans, seas and marine resources sustainably; and food, bioproducts and health, to ensure food safety and improve human nutrition, health and well-being.
“The IIM is the organisation collaborating in this stage, and it is doing so by making a large number of our outreach resources available to participants,” explains Jaime Amaro Blanco, communications officer of the IIM Scientific Culture Unit. “Through our videos and activities, we aim to promote ocean culture among participants and show them how the ocean influences us, but also how we influence the ocean.”
“The seas are a major source of bioproducts, some of which are already being studied in medical research on diabetes. Destroying marine ecosystems would be a great loss in many respects,” Amaro adds.
Some of these resources include the audiovisual shorts from “Kaleidolabs”, launched in 2014 with the collaboration of the Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology (FECYT) to raise awareness of the work of the IIM, the biodiversity of Galician waters and marine activities related to the sea.
Also included is the documentary “SyngDoc”, promoted in 2017 with the collaboration of FECYT to explain what syngnathids are, their main curiosities, their vulnerability — derived from their biological, ecological, social and spatial characteristics — and the need to protect them.
The videos produced last June through the “ArelaDeMar” initiative will also be made available to the organisers of the virtual race. This campaign, promoted for World Oceans Day, involved IIM and ICM-CSIC in Barcelona working with local artists and researchers who expressed, through small artworks, their wishes for the ocean.
Finally, the occasion will also serve to present the new institutional video of the IIM, which will premiere during October as part of European Green Week. The video aims to offer an up-to-date and realistic view of all the work carried out by the Institute to produce, apply and communicate the knowledge that the oceans provide from a multidisciplinary perspective.
Registration for the race is through the initiative’s website: https://www.kilometrosporladiabetes.org
For more information
CSIC: Ana Bellón Rodríguez (696 926 189)
Asociación Diabetes Madrid: Jorge Hinojosa Bolivar ADM (669 473 324)
Fundación Diabetes Cero: Paula Casado (647 532 728)