AXA partners with Tara Ocean Foundation for research on coastal ecosystems

Tara Europa Mission: research on anthropogenic pollution from land along the European coasts and impact on marine biodiversity.

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From April 2023 to July 2024, AXA supports the expedition ‘Tara Europa’ which is an innovative research program on marine biodiversity, with a special focus on the adaptation to anthropogenic pollution at the land-sea interface.

The TARA ship will sail along the European coasts to carry out a research program on coastal ecosystems. Particular attention is given to adaptation to anthropogenic pollution from lands and its impact on the marine biodiversity and ultimately on human health. Over 40 scientific teams will measure the impact of synthetic products such as pesticides, antibiotics and microplastics on marine microbial communities, develop molecular biomarkers of pollution and use the knowledge gained to explore remedial strategies. Samples will be collected all along European coast to understand impact from rivers, agriculture, cities and ports.

The stopovers during the expedition will give opportunities to raise awareness and educate about the preservation of the ocean with exchanges between the public, schoolchildren, the scientific community, and political decision-makers.

This newly launched expedition, Tara Europa, will study the European coasts over the next 18 months from Tallinn in Estonia to Athens in Greece. This mission is the marine part of a larger research program at the land-sea interface, called TREC, and led by the important European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL). The challenge is to describe the coastal biodiversity that is undergoing numerous chemical pollutions, with a view to global health... and therefore ours too.

Romain Troublé - CEO of Tara Ocean Foundation

Martin Powell

Group Head of Sustainability

AXA is proud to support Tara Europa for its contribution to science but also for the education that will be provided across Europe to a large audience. The mission Tara Europa will bring knowledge on marine pollution from lands, its impact on ecosystems with ultimately effects on human health. This is very well aligned with AXA’s purpose Acting for human progress by protecting what matters.