Watertrek

Watertrek’s mission is to raise awareness and alert about the need to protect aquatic ecosystems threatened by plastic pollution, global warming and toxic chemicals. Watertrek organizes expeditions combining sports (stand-up paddling and walking treks), citizen science and collaborative art, a three-prong approach combining motion, education and creation. It also proposes water-themed contents and renditions of these adventures.

THE STAND-UP PADDLE TO START MOVING


The stand-up paddle or SUP is a derivative of the Hawaiian canoe, the ancestor of modern surfing, used by Polynesian kings. It is practiced standing up, with a paddle.

AN INDIVIDUAL VISION, A GLOBAL CHALLENGE

Séverine Vasselin founded the association Watertrek in 2013 after practicing stand-up paddling for the first time on the Côte Bleue near Marseille in the South of France.

“This experience was a true revelation, a change of perspective that was at once physical, sensorial, social and spiritual, a shift in my esthetic viewpoint of the landscape. Standing up on the water, in a physical posture requiring balance, far from the land, it seemed essentiel to me to remind everyone of the beauty of life we are an integral part of, and of the importance of relearning how to see and feel, away from any form of anthropocentrism."

OUR SCIENTIFIC EXPEDITIONS TO DOCUMENT POLLUTION

Watertrek organizes long and short distance paddle expeditions. These initiatives - mostly on rivers - have a scientific and cartographic vocation, allowing us to collect information on the quantity, the source and type of waste and pollution present in water. It also enables us to physically connect to the ecosystem.

The projects led by Watertrek are in line with three of the Sustainable Development Goals as defined by the UN:

Sustainable Development Goals 06Sustainable Development Goals 13Sustainable Development Goals 14


Watertrek feeds citizen science platforms in collaboration with its partners (Surfrider Foundation Europe, Freshwater Watch in Oxford, DryRivers in Lyon). The association is a member of the Steering Committee involved in protecting Transfer Routes launched by the French Ministry for Energy Transition. It participates in the  identification and mapping of waste accumulation zones observed on banks with the CEREMA.

AN ARTISTIC APPROACH TO ENRICH OUR VISION OF THE LANDSCAPE 

To provoke engagement and connect with others you need to feel moved.  As a result all our expeditions integrate esthetic, artistic, and collaborative dimensions.

“The ecological crisis is above all a crisis of sensitivity.”

Baptiste Morizot

Un œuvre d'art réalisée à partir de déchets ramassés

OUR STORIES

Expedition renditions and conferences, screenings of our documentary and fiction movies, exhibitions and podcasts: Watertrek shares its experiences using various audiovisual and artistic formats, as many supports to alert on water preservation. We welcome everyone wanting to host these creative initiatives.

OUR PARTNERS

Microsoft
Cifacom
Climate Reality
Break free from plastic
Carbone 4
Plastic Origins
Garn
Plastic Coalition
Redesa
France Nature
UNO Environement
Sup Norway
Le grand huit
Freshwater
Surfrider
Plastic free july
Ministère de la transition écologique
Lush
Ocean Viking
Restube
StarBoard
SupPassion
All our partners

News

Meeting with students from Meaux Highschool

An actress, a sports teacher: Séverine and Stéphane had the opportunity to share their eco-adventures on their paddleboards along the nearby Marne with students from Sainte-Marie middle school-high school in Meaux on December 8th, 2023, and to discuss the importance of protecting water. Several classes of 8th grade, and just over a hundred teenagers, were […]

Watertrek celebrates its 10th anniversary

10 years of actions, excursions, awareness-raising and mobilization around water protection, Watertrek was delighted to celebrate its 10 years of existence in the company of many of its Parisian supporters, partners and volunteers on December 8th.   Born at the counter of the Paris boat show bar in 2013 following a conversation with Yann N'Guyen, […]

DryRivERS becomes new scientific partner on water stress

Watertrek has decided to join forces with its new partner DryRivERS to contribute to the observation of water stress and the drying out of rivers. Piloted by INRAE (France's National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment) in Villeurbanne, DryRivERS’s application can be used to identify and photograph particularly dry areas, enabling researchers to make […]

Watertrek joining the Etats-Généraux Sport Planète by Maif Insurance Company

On October 18 and 19, 2022, Watertrek was invited by Didier LeHénaff to the Etats-Généraux Sport Planète [Sport Planet Convention] organised by insurance company Maif at the CREPS Ile-De-France in Chatenay Malabry near Paris. Our co-founder Séverine took part in a round-table discussion on "Teaching eco-responsibility through sport", reminding us of the importance of imagination […]
1 2 3 14
All our posts
Label
crossmenuchevron-down