Sustainable Ocean Alliance (SOA) activates young people, develops and implements innovative solutions, and mobilizes an ocean workforce to restore the health of the ocean in our lifetime.
Since founded by Daniela Fernandez in 2014, SOA has built the world’s largest network of young ocean leaders and supported innovative startups, nonprofits, and grassroots campaigns dedicated to solving the greatest threats facing our planet.
Two years ago at the World Economic Forum, we shared our vision with the world, and Salesforce Chair and Co-CEO Marc Benioff challenged us to accelerate 100 solutions by 2021.
Today, SOA is proud to announce that as of 2021, we have more than doubled our initial goal: we have accelerated 222 startups, nonprofits, and grassroots initiatives all over the world, each dedicated to restoring and sustaining the health of our ocean.
The Ocean Solutions Accelerator helps entrepreneurs launch for-profit ocean solutions for a sustainable blue economy by providing funding, mentorship, and other critical resources to scale their ventures and amplify their impact.
The Ocean Leadership Program (OLP) holistically supports over 6,000 global participants with the resources and networks they need to build ocean-healing solutions and to reach their full potential as ocean leaders. The OLP awards Microgrants of up to $15,000 USD to outstanding youth leaders to execute and scale their projects, and provides 72 youth-led Hubs with leadership and programmatic support.
Together, these 222 solutions for ocean restoration have touched tens of thousands of lives, restored critical marine ecosystems worldwide, invented sustainable alternatives to plastics, pioneered cutting-edge technology to illuminate the mysteries of our deepest seas and much, much more.
Each startup, nonprofit, and grassroots initiative has focused its efforts across five key areas of ocean health impact.
Learn more, and explore all 222 solutions below.
IMPACT:
15,540 metric tons of CO2 reduced, avoided, or sequestered
The fight to address climate change cannot be separated from the drive to support solutions that address carbon removal and blue carbon ecosystem development. In 2020, 31.5 gigatons of carbon (CO2) were emitted globally, with 83% of the carbon cycle circulating through the ocean. Certain marine and coastal ecosystems—like tidal marshes, mangroves, and seagrass meadows—play a critical role in this cycle by sequestering and storing what’s then known as “blue carbon.”
These ecosystems are critical to climate change mitigation. Mangroves and salt marshes, for example, remove carbon from the atmosphere at a rate 10 times greater and store five times more carbon per acre than tropical forests.
IMPACT:
1,755 metric tons of solid waste removed, upcycled, or avoided
Each year, only 9% of plastic produced ends up recycled—which results in 10 million tons of plastic dumped into our oceans every year. That’s nearly equivalent to the weight of the entire human population. These pollutants are responsible for choking marine life, destroying both marine and coastal ecosystems, and polluting our own food sources.
Today, the average person ingests over 70,000 microplastics each year (that’s 100 pieces over the course of a single meal). The solutions in this category work to reduce and eliminate items like single-use plastics. Their work in turn helps to build the circular economy, which promotes the extension of product lifecycles and aims to decrease solid waste and pollution.
IMPACT:
89,128 square meters of blue carbon ecosystems protected or restored
In addition to sustaining marine life and the communities that depend on it, coastal ecosystems account for approximately half of the total carbon sequestered in ocean sediments. These may include coral reefs, mangrove forests, kelp forests, wetlands, and seagrass beds. Together, they serve as nurseries for marine organisms and as critical areas of blue carbon capture.
However, many marine ecosystems are experiencing degradation and destruction by human activities, which not only leads to species depletion, but also releases the critically stored carbon back into the atmosphere.
Solutions in this category have monitored 150,000 kilometers of coastline for climate change adaptation planning, detected 67,000 whales to avoid marine collisions, produced 150+ ocean literacy reports and media projects, hosted 260 events with more than 30,000 youth participants, and much more.
More than 80% of our ocean is unmapped, unobserved, and unexplored. In the United States, only 35% of the ocean and coastal waters have been mapped with modern methods. In order to inform policy decisions that ensure marine and coastal ecosystem sustainability—and to empower humans worldwide to take local action to save the ocean—we need reliable data sources, mapping, and consistent analysis.
Some projects in the category of ocean literacy, data, and research focus on data collection and analysis, while other initiatives are dedicated to fostering knowledge-sharing and creating local opportunities for action. All play critical roles in leveraging knowledge and technical skills to catalyze lasting ocean impact.
Every year, 30% of commercial fish stocks are overfished, while harmful fishing practices cause over 38 million tons of bycatch (the incidental capture of a non-target species). As a result, this institutionalized overfishing has contributed to a marked decrease in recorded marine species over the last 40 years.
Sustainable protein, fisheries, and aquaculture solutions address the challenge of sustainably feeding the world's growing human population without the continued exploitation of marine habitats and species.
SOA’s solutions in this area are varied, with many developing new, innovative systems of impact tracking. One Microgrant project is developing a supply chain around selling “gourmet” sea urchins in order to quell California’s invasive purple sea urchin population explosion. Another is piloting a CSA-style delivery service in the Philippines to support seasonal, sustainably caught seafood. Our Accelerator alumni are hard at work in this area as well, developing plant-based alternatives to seafood (think kelp burgers, kelp jerky, and cell-cultured tuna), net sensors to reduce bycatch, deepwater solar irrigation for seaweed farming, and more.
Microgrant
/
Honduras
Pollution Reduction & the Circular Economy
Joel Antonio Guity Zapata
This project aims to mitigate the problems of plastic accumulation on the beaches of the Garifuna communities of the Bay of Trujillo (San Antonio and Guadalupe) , through the collection of waste and the training of young people on the problems caused by plastics in coastal ecosystems. The main purpose is to empower, train and sensitize young people on environmental issues in order to protect the environment and well-being of the beaches and ocean.
LEARN MORE
Startup
/
USA
Pollution Reduction & the Circular Economy
Lindsey Hoell & Maia Tekle
Dispatch Goods eliminates disposable foodware from food delivery by integrating into food delivery apps, allowing customers to select zero-waste deliveries.
LEARN MOREMicrogrant
/
Sri Lanka
Ecosystem Preservation & Restoration
Roshima Vithanage
The SOA Sri Lanka Hub used this grant to launch a coral nursery in the Southern Province of Sri Lanka. After setting up the coral nursery, they set up an artificial coral reef with the partnership of Shangrila – Hotel, Hambanthota, Sri Lanka. After establishing the artificial coral reef, they aim to conduct further research involving policy makers in Sri Lanka to establish a marine protected area in the southern coastal belt. The grant also will be used to establish a school curriculum in Sri Lanka on ocean literacy and education.
LEARN MORE
Startup
/
France
Pollution Reduction & the Circular Economy
Marion Padioleau
Blue Innov is a french company dedicated to the development of environmentally friendly innovations in the nautical sector. Their first implemaentation is an ocean-friendly antifouling innovation created by the dutch researcher Rik Breur.
LEARN MOREMicrogrant
/
Thailand
Ocean Data, Literacy & Research
Jomphol Lamoonkit
SOA Thailand is seeking to grow and strengthen the network of people working on ocean conservation issues in Thailand. They will do this by conducting a series of online workshops, as well as one offline workshop and an online/offline art exhibition in Bangkok.
LEARN MOREMicrogrant
/
Cameroon
Pollution Reduction & the Circular Economy
Njetneliagnigni Ahmed Moumine
In collaboration with the organization ThinkGreen and regional delegates of the Cameroon Ministry of Environment, Protection of Nature and Sustainable Development, this project created awareness in schools and community groups, led four coastal cleanups engaging 400 youth, and connected local communities to existing recycling facilities.
LEARN MOREMicrogrant
/
Indonesia
Pollution Reduction & the Circular Economy
Dicky Dwi Alfandy
This group hosted an ocean and waste literacy summit, the Lampung Youth Marine Debris Summit 2.0, with the theme “Youth and Debris, to Creative Eco-Economy”. The goal of the summit was to educate and empower Lampung youths to find a solution to marine debris through “creative economy.”
LEARN MOREMicrogrant
/
Cameroon
Blue Foods (Sustainable Protein, Fisheries & Aquaculture)
Forbi Perise Eyong Nyosai
A project in partnership with the Cameroon Ministry of Environment, Nature, and Sustainable Development to raise awareness among fishermen to improve fishing practices with the aim of conserving the endangered sea turtles. Over 3,000 fishermen in 4 fishing communities took part, including 30 fishermen association leaders who agreed to serve as ambassadors for the project and to continue to spread awareness in their community.
LEARN MOREMicrogrant
/
Indonesia
Ecosystem Preservation & Restoration
Raditya Andrean Saputra
Reef Support and Indonesia Biru Foundation are working together to install the first coral lab in the Central Indonesia region. Funding will go towards building and setting up the coral lab, farming the first 1,000 corals, establishing a marketing campaign, and developing a scalable business model.
LEARN MORE
