Oceans are home to over half of all life on earth. Yet, as oceans are mined, oil drilled, polluted, and overfished the negative impacts to people’s livelihoods and marine ecosystems are increasing. Here are a handful of ways Global Greengrants’ grantees are working to protect oceans and conserve marine life around the world.
Protecting the Oceans in Papua New Guinea
Pollution, overfishing and deforestation from palm oil plantations have severely impacted marine resources in the Pacific Islands, a place where 80 percent of local people depend on the water and land to live. With $5,000 from Global Greengrants, the Cape Holicote Bay Marine Resource Management Committee travels from community to community in Papua New Guinea hosting seminars and workshops focused on ways to protect the mangrove forests, sea grasses, and coral reefs that provide food for local islanders and homes for fish. 5 ways they are protecting island life in Papua New Guinea >>
Rehabilitating Coral Reefs in Indonesia
In the mid-1990s, tourism resort owners conducted a land reclamation project on Serangan Island is Indonesia, connecting the island by road to Bali and tripling its size while simultaneously destroying the local coral reefs. The local islands depend on the reefs for fish and created Karya Segara, an organization working to replant the coral, as a way to restore the reef and their livelihoods. With $5,000 from Global Greengrants, the locals originally replanted 5,000 coral on the sea floor. The project has since expanded, replanting over 35,000 corals. Get the full story >>
Saving Mangrove Forests in the Philippines
Threatened by continued development, construction, and trash, mangroves in the Philippines are under threat, as well as the birds, animals, fish and people who depend on them. Working with Global Greengrants Fund and Earth Island Institute, the organization Save Freedom Island Movement is working hard to protect the last few mangrove forests in Manila Bay. The group organizes beach cleanup events and educates locals on the importance of protecting the mangrove ecosystems.
Together, we can keep our oceans healthy. Organizations like these are doing their best to reverse the negative impacts of climate change and other activities that are detrimental to our seas. They’re putting up a strong fight and protecting extraordinary places and ways of life.