June 5, 2024
Surfers Are Fighting to Save the Waves—and the Planet
By Finn Cooley
By the end of the century, the world could lose almost half of its sandy beaches. But a movement of surfers across Latin America is working to protect the coastal-marine environment.
On any given day from the cliffside esplanade of Lima, Peru, passersby can look out to find people dipping in and out of the Pacific Ocean’s clear blue waters. Visited by over 20,000 surfers annually, Lima is home to several of the 43 waves that receive protection in Peru under national law. Following decades of grassroots advocacy efforts led by surfers and environmentalists, the first-of-its-kind “Law of the Breakers” went into effect in 2014, recognizing surf breaks as objects of state property and giving them the right to protection from harmful commercial and industrial development.
Although a variety of indirect legal mechanisms for conserving waves have been identified globally, Peru is one of the only countries with a law dedicated to protecting surf breaks. Amid mounting threats to coastal access—from beachfront privatization and coastal infrastructure projects to the accelerating climate crisis—surfers and community activists inspired by the progress in Peru are joining forces with environmental lawyers to replicate these protections across Latin America. In Chile and Panama, policymakers have put forward surf break bills in Congress, and advocates in Ecuador are gathering signatures from the public to catalyze legislative action in the National Assembly.
If successful, the movement could not only help conserve the coasts through innovative uses of the law, but help solidify a powerful new coalition of environmental protectors.
