We were beyond impressed by the Nature Conservancy’s Audacious project after watching their TED Talk. The Nature Conservancy drew-up an aptly-named, audacious plan to protect reefs, fisheries, and mangroves by refinancing coastal communities’ debt and portioning the monies to conservation efforts. Refinancing coastal communities debt you ask? Yep. Exactly. That’s what they proposed and that’s what they are doing. The Nature Conservancy has already seen 11 successful debt conversion projects in South America.
The Marine Protection Project has already seen incredible success in the Seychelles Islands where coral reefs, fisheries, and the economy have all grown. In fact, the Seychelles initiative has already protected 400,000 square kilometers of ocean, the size of Germany, in the last 4-years.
The Nature Conservancy hopes to increase that number by partnering with additional coastal communities to protect over 4 million square kilometers of ocean in the next five years.
We view our clean-up efforts here in the Pacific Ocean as one small step toward improving the aquatic atmosphere for all and applaud the larger-scale effort of the Nature Conservancy.
To read more about the Audacious Project click here.
To read more about the Nature Conservancy’s work in the Seychelles click here.
