Diego Sancho Gallegos is an Early Career Ocean Professional and the Surf Conservation Data Coordinator for Save The Waves Coalition; an International (US based) NGO committed to protecting surf ecosystems around the World.
Diego grew up surfing in Costa Rica, and completed his B.S and M.S. degrees at Stanford University in the US. He is passionate about better understanding and protecting coastal ecosystems, and brings his background in marine science, data pipelines and mapping to contribute to Save The Waves’ mission.
He coordinates the Save The Waves App, which is designed to crowdsource data from coastal users who identify coastal threats, helping to log and address reported issues. The Save The Waves App is a UN Decade of Ocean Science Action, which you can download here.
Save The Waves Coalition also attended the United Nations Ocean Conference in Lisbon, Portugal and participated in high level discussions surrounding coastal protected areas, the importance of surfing in the blue economy, plastic pollution, and protecting surf ecosystems.
Their team was selected to give an intervention during the plenary dialogue where they highlighted the importance of protecting surf spots around the world and how their work will contribute significantly to the global goals of protecting 30% of the ocean by 2030. Surf Protected Areas Network Manager Mara Arroyo officially addressed the United Nations where our call for protecting surf breaks was heard by the international community and heads of ocean conservation for various governments around the world.
With this in mind, the Coalition is working towards protecting 1,000 surf ecosystems by 2030. Watch the video below, to learn more.