The Collectif Argos is a partner of the French Ministry of Ecological Transition in the organization of the IUCN World Conservation Congress.

The Collectif’s reporters set out to meet the maritime and coastal communities whose resources are being monopolized by public or private, tourist or industrial interests.

“Sea grabbing can be as serious a threat as land grabbing,” says Olivier de Schutter, UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food.

It is to defend this cause that the Argos collective has developed a documentary project on the perils threatening the seas and oceans, and on examples of concrete solutions for preserving these ecosystems.

The oceans, a key biodiversity issue and sustainable development objective, are at a turning point in their history. After decades of unlimited exploitation, encouraged by an imperfect Law of the Sea, this ecosystem is now threatened with depletion and extinction.

The reporters documented overfishing in Senegal and off the coast of Gabon, the tourism boom in the Mediterranean, marine plastic pollution and seabed mining in Indonesia, all examples of the urgency we face. Or threats to biodiversity such as coral bleaching in French Polynesia or the destruction of Posidonia meadows in the Mediterranean.

Several reports have already been published in the national and international press in Le Figaro Magazine, Le Temps, Le pèlerin Magazine, The Guardian… or broadcast on France 24 and France TV Info. With a cumulative audience of 15 million people.

The entire project is sponsored by yachtsman François Gabart. It is supported and financed by the IRIS foundation, the Lemarchand foundation, the French Office for Biodiversity, the Citizen Press group, the IUCN and the Léa Nature foundation.