L'oeil de la Genève Internationale
June 2017

To preserve the ocean is to preserve life. That conviction lies at the heart of Race for Water Foundation’s mission. From 29 June until 23 July, the Foundation will present a free, open-air exhibition on Quai Wilson in Geneva, featuring a series of 60 photographs by Peter Charaf. This chronicle of a yearlong, round-the-globe sailing expedition to assess and understand plastic pollution in the world's oceans will leave no one indifferent!

According to a study published by the Ellen Macarthur Foundation in 2016, 8 million tonnes of plastic are dumped into the ocean every year and by 2050, there will be more plastic than fish in the ocean. Each of the photographs in the exhibition is accompanied by a text in French and English detailing the subject of the image, the scientific experiments carried out during the expedition, the islands visited, and the conclusions reached – mainly, that measures need to be taken on land to prevent plastics from reaching the ocean in the first place.

In February 2017, the Foundation launched a new round-the-world expedition, the Race for Water Odyssey of Hope. "We are moving from assessment to action, with the goal of showing that solutions exist to turn plastic waste into an energy resource," said Marco Simeoni, President of the Race for Water Foundation.

This image is one of a series of 60 photographs exhibited on Quai Wilson. Peter Charaf, a photographer specializing in extreme sports, adventure, and travel, joined Race for Water Odyssey 2015 to observe the global impact of plastic pollution in the world’s oceans.