Xposure’s first-ever Conservation Summit highlights need for conserving marine life and protecting the oceans

Xposure’s first-ever Conservation Summit highlights need for conserving marine life and protecting the oceans

Sharjah: The outlook for ocean conservation got a promising boost as Xposure International Photography Festival here opened its first-ever Conservation Summit under the theme ‘Saving our Oceans’ to explore hope and solutions for safeguarding the precious biodiversity of the global marine ecosystems. The day-long summit dedicated to ocean conservation and visual storytelling opened at Expo Centre Sharjah in the presence of Sheikh Sultan bin Ahmed Al Qasimi, Deputy Ruler of Sharjah. Held in partnership with the International League of Conservation Photographers, the summit began with a short video showcasing the incredible beauty and diversity of the ocean’s creatures found across the diverse climatic terrains of the planet. National Geographic explorers Brian Skerry, David Doubilet, Jennifer Hayes, Jeffrey Garriock and Laurent Ballesta, who have witnessed the beauty and the devastation happening across all ocean ecosystems and have accumulated more than 80,000 hours of combined underwater documenting changes, shared their inspiring experiences with audiences at the summit. Addressing a distinguished gathering of conservationists, biologists, ocean explorers, researchers and photographers, Mariam bint Mohammed Almheiri, UAE Minister of Climate Change and Environment, expressed her appreciation for the Sharjah Government Media Bureau (SGMB) for drawing attention to a global concern and helping provide active solutions