I was on the drive home, after spending an afternoon with Josep Vives, my good friend and colleague from the Pollença based NGO Arrels Marines. As we were leaving the stunning Tramuntana landscape behind us, my kids asked me: “Papa, why are you two separate NGOs? Why are you not working together?” A fair and sensible observation from a 10-year-old and an 8-year-old. My response to these insightful young humans was: “We are working very closely together and have been for the past couple of years.” To which they responded: “Why are you not called Save the Arrels?!” I love the purity and honesty of children’s thoughts, something that we, as adults, should strive to return to. How have two young children observed the vital necessity for collaboration, which has been missing for many years in the third sector? What is stopping our communities and governments from effectively creating sufficient change to deal with the monumental climate issues that we are all facing today? With this in mind, Save the Med is moving forward guided by three defining pillars: The first pillar is deep collaboration. As observed by my children, collaboration is one action that we must embrace, but on a much deeper level. Nowadays many collaborations are carried out at a superficial level, which as a result do not have the strength to last nor to contribute meaningfully to the change required.. In my experience deep collaboration yields the best results once trust and respect has been forged between the people involved. This takes time. The second pillar is about adopting a holistic vision. Sadly, most of our world has become monocultural. The way most of us live fails to prioritise the biodiversity that is critically important to support living systems. This importance is also not reflected in the way the third sector prioritises or solves environmental problems. Many of today’s so-called solutions become tomorrow's problems, as we have not mastered the ability to see the entire picture. This needs to change. The third pillar is local community engagement. We believe this to be the missing link in Mediterranean regeneration. For decades, most large International NGOs working within the Mediterranean region have been focused on top-down processes. Meaning that they mostly work with governments to change policy, and that the last people to find out are the locals who are directly affected by that policy change. This in itself is not a negative action. However, it leaves out local social movements and engagement at grassroots level, leading to poor results and laws that are not necessarily adopted or embraced on the ground. Save the Med is currently focused on integrating these three pillars; collaboration, holistic vision and community engagement, into the amazing projects we already have underway. 2023 was another wonderful year at the helm of this good ship Save the Med Foundation. I hope you enjoy reading this Annual Report and that you too will find some inspiration. Stay strong, stay focused and stay together! - Brad Robertson, President, Save the Med Foundation