Ocean Womxn's Thando Mazomba joins UCT's Atlantic ambassadors

The new 2020/2021 cohort of All-Atlantic Ocean Youth Ambassadors, including three University of Cape Town (UCT) postgraduates, will be working hard to expand awareness of the Atlantic Ocean and its important role as a sustainable resource and climate regulator.

The UCT trio of ambassadors, the only South Africans among the new cohort, are postdoctoral research fellow Dr Marissa Brink-Hull and postgraduates in oceanography Thando Mazomba and Kirstin Petzer.

This initiative is part of the All-Atlantic Ocean Research Alliance (AANCHOR) project, which intersects the suite of European Union Atlantic projects. AANCHOR links initiatives in the European Union, Canada and the United States, and was launched with the signing of the Galway Statement in 2013.

The alliance includes a research community of ocean science institutions, and research and innovation projects involving the entire Atlantic basin. The All-Atlantic Ocean Youth Ambassadors programme was launched in 2019 to enable the next generation to lead change in their communities, promoting stewardship of the sustainable development of the Atlantic Ocean.

UCT News spoke with the trio. Below is the response from Ocean Womxn’s Thando Mazomba.

Helen Swingler (HS): What is your academic background, and what brought you to UCT?

Thando Mazomba (TM): I completed my BSc Honours in Marine Biology at UCT, and I’m currently an MSc candidate in Applied Ocean Sciences. I was drawn to UCT because of its ability to expose its students to the global environment.

HS: What does your research at UCT encompass?

TM: My research assesses climate model results in the Southern Ocean using historical humpback whale catch data from the 20th century. This is part of a growing body of work facilitated by the Whales and Climate Research Programme.

Using the whales to deepen our understanding of oceanographic properties in the last century provides us an opportunity to better understand how our climate is changing with time. In return, improved future climate projections will equip us with information that will indicate how future changes in climate will affect the whale populations and their migratory behaviour.

HS: What does it mean to you to have been selected as an All-Atlantic Ocean Youth Ambassador?

TM: I believe we need ongoing conversations around diversity and inclusion in the marine space. These are fundamental to the progress of our country’s efforts towards marine conservation. Being an ambassador for South Africa is incredibly affirming to the work that I do and believe in. Having this platform will also enable me to engage in these kinds of conversations – now even more so on a global scale.

HS: How do you view your ambassador role?

TM: The ambassadorship promotes engaging in and driving positive influence and sparking change within the ambassadors’ communities, as well as cooperating for the sustainable development and stewardship of the ocean. We can achieve this by breaking down geographical silos in conservation efforts to build on global and local initiatives.

HS: What are the most urgent priorities in terms of protecting the health of our oceans?

TM: The encompassing challenge within marine conservation is the concept of “out of sight, out of mind”. I believe that people do care about their natural environment; it is a part of us, after all. The problem is that we are not exposed to the destruction we cause to these environments, and therefore it’s never prioritised in our day-to-day lives.

Socioeconomic barriers are another challenge. Addressing the challenges of marginalised communities, such as access to clean water, education, proper sanitation infrastructure, responsible waste disposal and energy sourcing – [these] are all important in lifting the standard of living in these communities. Through this upliftment, we can have a greater contribution to our workforce; a greater contribution to our conservation efforts.

Socioeconomic challenges should also consider intersectionality within marine conservation, as this speaks to the exclusivity of marine spaces. We need to bridge these gaps so that we can achieve diversity and inclusion. Through this, conservation efforts will be more robust, encompassing knowledges from different walks of life and different experiences.

This story was adapted from UCT News.