How can world rowing provide clean water to inhabitants on the banks of the Zambezi river and grow the next generation of world class African athletes?

The idea is simple. We are in the process of building a river and rowing project on the Kafui river, which is one of the tributaries of the Zambezi.

Welcome to this episode of the Unnoticed Show. And today I've got Mark Thomas, who's a man I've known for many, many years, originally from China and one of the greatest proponents and advocates of sport in the world. And Mark, thank you for joining me. Let's talk about World rowing and, and how it's taking a leadership position in water, not just around the world, but specifically this Africa project. So thank you for coming on the show.

Yeah, I think firstly, it's sort of important to understand the relationship that rowers have with water. You know, basically it's almost a symbiotic sort of relationship that, you know, if you're rowing, you're very much in tune with water and the nature around you. So it was a natural sort of progression from that sort of relationship, sort of to say, well, if we're going to basically do everything on water, what do we need in terms of sustainable and environmental sort of aspects to make sure that the water we row on is fit to row? And then you sort of open up a whole question. And one of the, I suppose the big purpose issues we have in the world is water and clean water. Over 1.1 billion people don't have access to water. And if you had, in terms of sanitation and some of the issues around lack of or decreasing biodiversity and species around water, it's now become one of those probably key pillars of purpose in the world. But it's probably one that doesn't have the same sort of voice as, say, climate change or sort of other areas of.

Clean air has been an easy one to. But easy to see pollution, right?

Yeah, exactly. But it is a pillar of World Rowing's partner, WWF. So in 2011, to sort of be more active in this space, World Rowing created a long term global partnership with the World Wildlife Fund for Nature, better known as the wwf. And the idea was to firstly shine a light on this through communications and awareness programs that we can do with all our international events around the world, but also start to take sort of active action in terms of what we can do to progressively make sure that the environments that we row in are both clean in terms of the water that we're rowing on, but also the whole aspect of what we're doing is environmentally sustainable. So we have very clear guidelines that we issue to all our event hosts in terms of environmental and sustainability and we sort of make sure that those events are or managed within that criteria. But we also do very simple things that we make sure that every event that has a World Rowing event has clean water. And that comes from simple testing and then putting the right sort of systems and applications in place to make sure that is not only for when we roam, but it is maintained as a long term deliverable in terms of what we're doing in terms of those venues.

If we just step back just a little bit. Because for those people that haven't heard of World Rowing, just take us just through that organization. Because what seems impressive is that this is an organization that's making commitment to sustainable goals. It's not a large corporation, it's not a funded ngo. That's what I think is really intriguing. Can you just explain a little bit more about World Rowing? Because it's people who love rowing and are competing, I think in credit.

So World Rowing is the international federation that governs rowing as a sport around the world. So we have over 100 sort of national federations that feed into us. So it's in essence, it's a small organization. It's based in Lausanne, like many of the international sports federations and is recognized by the IOC as the governing body for rowing. So we manage all aspects of sports events around that. So yeah, essentially it's a big responsibility, but actually organizationally it's quite a small organization in terms of the actual team that delivers it. So part of obviously that is actually ensuring that what we do is sustainable and environmentally acceptable in terms of everywhere we go in terms of events and sports activities. And like I said before, it's very much in the DNA of rowers to be linked to the environment and specifically water.

Was there a moment when this kind of initiative was decided upon? Because the Rowing Federation has been in existence for quite a long time. Was there a catalyst, a particular moment, when enough people within World Rowing said, hey, you know what, we should make a difference to where we row, not just turn up and row?

Yeah, I mean, you know, as you said, we are the oldest international federation in the world. So, you know, we've been going for, you know, almost 150 years. One one of the original sports in the first Olympics and have been there ever since. And like I said before, there's always been a symbiotic relationship between rowers and water. So it's natural. But in terms of actually doing something about that, I think that was really sort of born from relationship that we've now fostered with WWF and that kicked off in earnest in 2011. So, like I said, a lot of that is on communication, awareness and developing it. But we actually believe that apart from that, we needed to show action in terms of what we can do with that partnership to move forward and do something that is tangible in terms of solving this issue around water globally.

That idea of action leads us nicely into this Kafui river project. Do you want to talk to us about that? It looks amazing.

Yeah, I mean, it's a very specific thing that World Rowing is doing in conjunction with wwf. I mean, WWF run freshwater conservation projects in more than 50 countries around the world. But this is a very specific project that we've joined with them, what we can go into partnership with them, set up a project that can do real good. And the idea is simple. We are in the process of building a rowing river and rowing project on the Kafui river, which is one of the tributaries of the Zambezi in Zambia. And the idea is that is used to sort of firstly highlight all aspects of water issues. And one of the big things, if you ever have a chance to go to the Kafui river in Zambia, is it probably shines a light on all the things that are a problem for water, whether it be water consumption and the accessibility of clean water for drinking, for the population, whether it be, you know, irrigation issues around agriculture, whether it be industrial pollution, you know, flowing into that river, whether it be the link with hydroelectric power and what profound effect that can have on our natural waterways, all those things come into focus in that one space. So the idea is to build a center there using rowing as a. As an overriding concept. But really the idea is to one understand those issues by having, you know, scientific and research projects going in and around that centre. It's also about education, so bringing young people, old people of all backgrounds to the center, to one enjoy rowing, but obviously also to shine a light on some of those issues that that river encounters. And then from that we want to basically then do proactive plans where from what we've learned there, we can then replicate and roll some of those ideas into some of those other water conservation centres around the WWF works for. And ultimately the idea is to sort of affect you, like any business, but this is a business for, you know, solving water solutions, is to see how we can potentially scale that up. So if you. The learnings for Kufui could then be taken to, for example, parts of China or parts of South America, and then understand and implement some of those plans there. So it's a step by Step process. The first thing we've got to get the thing up and running in Kafui and we've got to. We're going really well with that. The idea is to use this project to have research, education and create understanding that can create models that can be used in other centers around the world. As I mentioned before, the WWF run projects, clean water projects around the world and learnings for this can be used in those projects. But also we can potentially use the learnings from the Kafue project to also understand and put actionable plans in other areas of the world. So that could be in China or South America or whether those problems are active. So what we want to do is sort of use this as a base for learning and understanding, research and education and then see how that is applicable in other crisis areas around the world in terms of water.

So how much money are you going to raise for the Kafui river project?

Well, the Kafue river project is now currently in process in terms of raising money. So we've got a couple of million to raise and we're sort of just going through the process of that at the moment. So the initial, I suppose funding has come from the goodwill of the global rowing community. So we have reached out to just normal folks who want to do some good and that donation has been really positive. And now we're sort of going on to the sort of the next stage when we sort of ask for corporate funding in terms of more support on that side. And we've just secured our first partner with a company called Royal Arend, which is a Dutch furniture company. And we hopefully will also be reaching out to other parties. So we've actually now just the process where we've, we've secured the land and hold the title deeds of the deeds of the land and now we're moving forward with the construction. So you know, managing obviously the funding and the cash flow with that is obviously crucial going forward, but we're in a pretty good space at the moment.

So if companies want to get involved in Kufui as part of their CSR project, what could they contribute and also what could they participate in as well? Because it's not just about donation of the money. Right. This can also become part of an organization's corporate social responsibility program and education as well for their own staff and their own suppliers.

Yeah, absolutely. And you know, there's certain organizations that lend themselves very well to this sort of purpose driven program. So take an example, the beverage industry or soft beverages or, or beers or whatever they process an awful lot of water within their industrial manufacturing process. So how they take care of that water, how that industrial process affects water environments is key. And they for example, can also help or get learnings from what we do to maybe help them in their own sustainability with regards water. So there's certain, I would say industries that lend themselves very well in terms of one again a mutual sort of understanding and benefit from that. And there's others obviously that see this as one of the crucial pillars of crisis in the world at the moment. And again, a very poignant positioning in terms of how they can help us and the world in terms of resolving those problems. So that could be anything from banks to insurance companies to companies that make sports goods as well. So we're fairly open in terms of who we work with, but we want people who share the same values as us, which is really important. So for example, it's very difficult for us to look at industries such as Big Oil or maybe hydropower who are doing so much damage to the environment without them stepping forward in terms of actionable plans, in terms of improving what they do.

At the moment there are some like BP who are committed to sustainable energy solutions, aren't there? So purpose driven contributions by some of these MNCs can actually be part of the way that they can redefine their own company image as well, isn't it? Tell us a little bit, Mark, about the country though. How is Zambia sort of approaching and being receptive to the Kafui river and to world rowing? Because the host nation itself, the relationship is also important to the success, isn't it, of the project.

The local government, the national government have been very supportive to this and other purpose driven projects. I think one of the issues that we always are likely to encounter in developing markets is the trade off between their own industrial and economic development and worthwhile projects in terms of environment and sustainability. And a lot of the times that's seen as a conflictual relationship. And again, it's sort of our responsibility as well to try and turn that into a more win win situation and look forward to it. But it's difficult because again, if you look back at the west and how we through our own industrialization cause massive amount of pollution. It's a balance in terms of how you educate, develop a more environmentally sustainable economy while also not affecting their own development.

Now what about getting people in Africa into the sport of rowing? Because historically that's maybe not been seen as the home of great rowers, but in the same way with most athletics African nations, for example, in the running have amazing athletes. What's World Rowing doing to encourage participation in the sport itself?

Well, we have a global development division who very much put a focus on our sporting development and Africa is a key part of that. I think rowing has some issues in terms of its accessibility. It's traditionally been seen as an expensive, maybe elite sports. And again, I think those sort of questions need to be answered. So there's a few things that you know, I'd raise. One building facility like this and hopefully others to come gives accessibility so we can open this up to youngsters and folks interested in rowing of all ages. But it's also important for development to see, well, not everyone can get to a river. So one of the things that we've looked at in terms of developing markets and is developing other variants of the sports that can bring people in. So, you know, Africa has a vast coast and we have a variance of rowing called coastal rowing and that's seen as a key pillar of development in some of those other markets. So it's much easier to row off ashore than it is to find a facility. And the other area which is really gaining momentum at the moment and we just had a really great event last week, the Virtual Indoor Rowing Championships and that had really good representation from Africa. And again, it's much easier for someone to sit on an indoor rowing machine at home or in a gym or wherever and get involved in rowing as a first step than maybe finding a boat and a team and those sort of things. So I think it's a step by step and I would say a holistic process. But yeah, we hope this would also help in the stimulus for interest and participation in Africa.

Mark, if people want to find out more about World Rowing and the Kahui Project and even just rowing in general, where can they go?

Well, I think the best starting point is our website. So go to worldrowing.com and that's got a section on what we do with WWF and the KAFUI Project and also has contact information if you want to get in touch with myself or any of the colleagues that work in around this project and others in rowing.

Mark Thomas, thank you so much for joining me today on the Unnoticed show.

My pleasure. Thank you very much Jim.

CP Listen, Mark Thomas and I talking about purpose driven contributions are in how the World Rowing has collaborated with the World Wildlife Fund for Nature to introduce a project in Africa to highlight the needs and the benefits to sustainable water treatment. Thanks for listening to this episode and all the notes will of course be in the show, notes in the transcript, and another until we meet again. I wish you the best of health, a sustainable, if not a profitable business. And that if you have some time and you think about a sport, check out rowing. It's great exercise. And who knows, maybe one day you could be rowing down the Zambezi with Mark Thomas.

Thanks so much for listening.