'In the ocean, at the forefront of climate change' - Buchan

Andrew 'Ace' Buchan was among the world's best surfers for two decades

Of all the human beings going about their daily business, in all the nooks and crannies on Earth, no-one is better placed than surfers to tell us something isn't right.

Especially Australian ones, floating above sea beds, such as the Great Barrier Reef, awaiting the next wave.

Which is why Andrew 'Ace' Buchan is the BBC's Green Sport Awards Evergreen Athlete for 2024 - for crashing in on a wave of consciousness and down the corridors of power around the world, to force critical change.

All while trying to raise three children and build a new identity after a career on the board - a sport which doesn't exactly leave you with much of a financial legacy.

"When you derive so much joy from something you naturally want to protect it, and you develop a sense of custodianship," says the 42-year-old.

"I was travelling to beautiful locations, but at the same time, as a surfer in the ocean you're at the forefront of climate change.

"During the course of my two decades travelling the world I definitely saw change, whether that was coral bleaching, coastal erosion or incredible plastic pollution across places like Indonesia or the Maldives; we've had proper floods on the east coast of Australia in the last couple of years, coupled with crazy bushfires - all events driven by climate change."

Buchan spoke to the BBC from Climate Week in New York

Wisdom from an early age

Buchan's social awareness began early, following a decision by his parents to leave Apartheid South Africa and raise Buchan in Australia - another country, like many, not without its struggles for harmony between indigenous groups.

"I feel fortunate for inheriting a social conscience and an interest in what was going on around me," he says.

"I was falling in love with nature, and how happy it made me feel.

"That was when I did a first draft of a creative writing task - which turned into a published children's book about 10 years later - about a white Australian boy meeting an indigenous Australian and learning about indigenous wisdom and how that intersects with environmentalism."

Change on a bigger scale

It's this wisdom which has bought Buchan to a position of real change, as he explains from New York (no, he didn't surf there - he took a flight worth taking) where he was spreading the word during the city's Climate Week.

And it's in his gentle, almost calming, delivery you get a sense Buchan is a man who has pastoral powers of persuasion.

"Every second breath we take is from the ocean," he says. "If we just look at the ocean and just hone in on Great Barrier Reef - which is a World Heritage area - it has seen unprecedented coral bleaching events in last five years. That's devastating when you look at biodiversity and the role the Great Barrier Reef has in combating climate change."

And this is where Buchan's growing influence gets impressive: over the past two years, alongside Surfers for Climate - an Australia-based environmental group - he has worked with the New South Wales government to achieve bipartisan support for the ban of offshore exploration and extraction of fossil fuels in New South Wales' coastal waters.

"It's been a high-profile campaign across the last 10 years - commonly referred to Pep 11 [Petroleum Exploration Permit No11], happening off the most populous part of coastline between Sydney and Newcastle.

"I live right in the middle of those two beautiful cities, where there's the whale migration and one of most biodiverse regions on the Australian coastline."

Buchan was raised in New South Wales in Australia

Never give up

That's the impact. Buchan has not just achieved a clean-up in his own back yard - he is effecting change across great swathes of an enormous country.

Not to mention the $25,000 (£18,670) he simply gave away to Australia's independent Climate Council after being handed the cash by the World Surf League for his ocean advocacy.

Three children, remember. And he has the conviction to do that.

But for all the effort and negotiations, there have been attempts to start gas exploration on the New South Wales coast.

"It's definitely a hot-button issue in Australia," says Buchan. "We have this conservative side of government pushing for gas and we clearly know that's not the right choice. Australia has the ability to be a renewal superpower if we can harness the will to do that.

"But it's not just fighting those battles in my own back yard. It’s about taking a global approach.

"If we combat climate change on a global level, we need big solutions. Hopefully we can safeguard all parts of the ocean.

"I want to come to a place where the coastline is hopefully protected for generations to come.

"We possess a lot of solutions to these problems - it's about harnessing the political and social will to implement them.

"Hopefully, collectively, as a human race we can enact those things together and move towards a much more positive greener, bluer world to live in and enjoy."