The 1st SPOGOMI World Cup
Your Excellencies, distinguished guests, participants, and volunteers. I would like to express my gratitude for your commitment in bringing to reality the historic first-ever SPOGOMI World Cup. And a hearty welcome to the twenty-one victorious winners of the qualifying rounds, to Japan, the land of the decisive battle.
The ocean is a “common heritage of mankind” and without the existence of the Mother Ocean which has nurtured all life, there will be no survival nor prosperity for humankind. However, we, humans have overloaded the Mother Ocean with a huge burden, such as overexploitation of marine organisms, unregulated use of the marine resources, and marine pollution. The Nippon Foundation has addressed this crisis of the ocean for over forty years, with special emphasis on the issue of marine litter, and this SPOGOMI World Cup is one of our major initiatives.
As you may be aware, close to eighty percent of marine litter is generated on land. I have traveled to one hundred and twenty two countries around the world and have seen the alarming sites of litter. Once litter is released into the rivers or the ocean, recovery is extremely challenging. It is even said that within a few years there will be more litter than fish in the ocean. We want and we must spread this sport to the entire world to raise global awareness on marine litter as well as environmental issues, so we made “trash pick-up” a sport that anyone of any age can enjoy. The goal is not to litter, but it all starts by picking-up trash. A person who picks up trash once, will most likely never litter again. Let us all spread this sport, born here in Japan, to every corner of the world.
Dear participants, picking trash is the last resort in protecting the Mother Ocean from marine litter. I firmly believe that your participation and great performance in SPOGOMI will be a catalyst in raising global awareness for environmental issues on our planet. I look forward to your heated competition and to celebrate together the first SPOGOMI World Champion. Thank you and let’s SPOGOMI!