Brazil has great social inequality and disadvantaged social classes have no access to quality education. Paraty is a natural paradise popular with tourists, but has overfishing, massive trawling, shark predation and other predatory activities, and there is no environmental education in the schools, selective waste collection, or treated sewage for all. This, the 3rd grant SOA has issued in support of the TransforMAR project, will continue to marine science education and scuba diving to inspire and educate low-income youth in the community.

This project in collaboration with the YPAC Southeast Asia Deep-Sea Mining Coalition worked to raise awareness about Deep Sea Mining among high-level government officials in Indonesia. They developed a policy brief containing deep-sea mining key action plans and launched the brief through webinars and a campaign.

To form new youth initiatives in coastal cities, we spread awareness on plastic pollution and marine litter by offering capacity building workshops for potential environmentalists and youth organizations. The training will be followed by offline advocacy action on beaches to stop marine litter produced by visitors.

Mobile Sea Otters work with local fishermen, volunteer divers, and dive shops to regenerate kelp forests by decreasing and ultimately eliminating the sea urchin population. Activities included monitoring of both kelp and sea urchin population growth, direct extermination of urchins, and estimation of CO2 absorption per unit area of kelp. Surveys and calculations were conducted by Teruhisa Komatsu (Technical Advisor of Japan Fisheries Resources Conservation Association). 

Palu, the capital of Central Sulawesi, Indonesia, is densely populated and has insufficient waste management. This group, the Seangle Movement, is a Palu-local youth movement that aims to combat plastic pollution. They do this through their Waste Education House program, which gives youth art education, recycling/upcycling education, and English language education to cohorts of 30 elementary school students per year. They also have a waste collection point, and the funds from the sale of recycled materials go toward continued educational programming.

Pioneers of a regenerative economy, Full Cycle Bioplastics is tackling both food waste and plastic pollution through their patented technology that converts organic waste into a compostable, biodegradable bioplastic (PHA). They are the only bioplastic that is cost-competitive with petroleum plastics and the only circular economy bioplastic company in the world. Their PHA is able to directly replace polypropylene, polyethylene, and polystyrene and at its end-of-life, it can be up-cycled through our system into virgin PHA again.

This program trains “Ocean Watchers” in the youth communities of Peru most affected by the February 2022 oil spill. Through presentations, workshops, and dialogues facilitated by experts, youth, artisanal fishermen, leaders, and organizers  are given the skills necessary to increase ocean awareness and emergency preparedness in the face of increased threats from climate change and extractive industries.

This project aims to: 1) Curate selective marine organisms and illustrated graphics to debunk misconceptions of taxonomy through the art of epoxy resin, 2) prepare information for resin specimens and blocks via QR codes, with video links from experts related to themes of acidification, aquatic invasives, destruction of habitat and pollution, 3) create awareness through advertising and create an educational toolkit and exhibition. The project is expected to help youths engage the fundamental science of taxonomy with conservation and ecology in line with the themes of SOA and SDG 14, and aid experts by working towards establishing conservation priorities of our Malaysian marine biological heritage.

The Casa Mangle Foundation in Cartagena, Colombia, will conduct a mangrove restoration project that involves the local community. Twenty leaders of communities that live near the mangrove systems will be selected and trained in mangrove restoration and seed germination. A wooden structure for the mangrove nursery will also be constructed.