In the spirit of the holidays - and before we gather around the table this week with our friends and family to share a meal and the stories that bring us together - we want to take a moment to give thanks to the individuals and organizations that make the work we do possible.
Our efforts to restore blue carbon coastal ecosystems and reverse climate change would not be possible without our amazing local ecosystem restoration partners. Because of them, we’ve made great strides in our efforts to turn the tide on climate change.
Each of our SeaTrees planting and restoration projects works with local NGOs that conduct the conservation, restoration, planting, maintenance, and monitoring of their local blue carbon ecosystem. And it is thanks to them - and all your support - we have achieved the monumental goal of planting over 2 million SeaTrees around the world.
So we wanted to take this opportunity to tell the stories, celebrate, and give a big #oceanpositive thank you to our restoration and planting project partners, big and small, that have helped make SeaTrees what it is today. Learn more about some of our incredible partners below:
Together, we have successfully restored over 297,083 sq-ft of kelp forests in Palos Verdes, CA.
Regenerative Education Centers (REC) is a nonprofit organization founded in 2018 in Hawaii and California, focused on regenerative lifestyles and solutions for rehabilitating natural ecosystems in Hawaii.
REC’s combination of traditional techniques, ancient wisdom, and hands-on restorative practices is filtering water run-off before it reaches the coral reefs at Lanipoko, one of Maui’s beloved surf spots while sequestering carbon back into the ground - leaving Hawaii’s coastline healthier than before.
Thanks to Regenerative Education Centers, we have successfully restored 35,000 sq-ft of the degraded HO’OWAIWAI Watershed on Maui, Hawaii.
Ocean Gardener is an Indonesian non-profit organization with over 20 years of hands-on experience farming coral that are key to restoration and biodiversity. Their team of marine biologists, divers, and coral farmers is dedicated to restoring the degraded reefs while educating the local community on best practices to protect the reefs moving forward.
We partnered with Ocean Gardener to restore the degraded coral reefs on Nusa Penida Island in Bali, Indonesia. This coral restoration will provide habitat for more than 500 species of fish, many of which are currently considered vulnerable to extinction. Currently, the project creates 20 jobs for local villagers and supports 12 families.
Together, we have successfully planted 14,350 coral fragments at our project sites in Bali, Indonesia.
Community Based Environmental Conservation (COBEC) is a community-based organization founded in 2005 in Kenya focused on local grassroots ocean conservation efforts. Their main programs, implemented with the support of the local communities and government stakeholders, have concentrated on mangrove forest restoration and Sea Turtle conservation.
We partnered with COBEC in planting mangroves at two sites in Kenya. These incredible projects heavily focus on including and benefiting the local communities - creating jobs and generating income for the local community groups that manage the mangrove nurseries. More than 600 people are employed to restore the mangrove forests at this project site.
In partnership with COBEC, we have planted 1,096,131 mangrove trees across both project sites in Kenya.
Eden Reforestation Projects is a nonprofit NGO that works in developing countries to rebuild natural landscapes destroyed by deforestation. Eden works directly with communities experiencing extreme poverty resulting from the deforestation and destruction of the land that sustains them. Their projects fund local villagers on Padaidori Island in their effort to restore, replant, and protect the area’s unique and vital forest systems.
SeaTrees has worked with Eden Reforestation Projects since June 2019, starting with a small plot of 60,000 mangrove trees on the main island of Biak, Indonesia. We quickly maxed out the planting site at Mnurwar and, in January 2020, began planting mangrove trees on the neighboring island of Padaidori. A few months later in October 2020, the project expanded to a second planting site on Padaidori.
We have planted just over 704,999 mangrove trees with Eden Reforestation Projects in the Biak Island Region.
Wildcoast is an international non-profit environmental organization that conserves coastal and marine ecosystems and wildlife - and envisions a society in which ecologically sensitive and globally significant coastal and marine ecosystems and wildlife are conserved, restored, and sustained for future generations.
We have been working with Wildcoast and local communities in Laguna San Ignacio, Baja, California Sur, Mexico, to plant, protect and restore the critical mangrove ecosystems in the area. Mangroves play a significant role in the region’s local economy, provide nursery and feeding grounds for commercially important fisheries and other wildlife, and buffer coastal communities against storm surges and sea level rise.
Together, we have successfully planted 20,000 mangrove trees so far at our project site in Laguna San Ignacio, Baja, Mexico.
Everland represents the world's largest portfolio of high-impact forest conservation (REDD+) projects that protect wildlife and enhance the well-being of forest communities. They exist to help people prosper by conserving their forests and wildlife, resulting in climate change mitigation for the benefit of all.
Through our partnership with Everland, we have been working with the following organizations on the ground:
We partnered with Reef Check California and Giant Giant Kelp Restoration (G2KR) to establish a kelp forest restoration project at Tankers Reef in Monterey Bay, California.
Founded in 1996, the Reef Check Foundation is an international non-profit organization dedicated to conserving tropical coral reefs and temperate kelp forests. With a vision of thriving reefs, cared for by communities sustained for generations to come, Reef Check leads citizen scientists to promote stewardship of sustainable reef communities worldwide.
G2KR is a group of volunteer divers and community members who share a deep concern about the tremendous loss of kelp forests in Monterey Bay and throughout California beginning in 2014. Their vision is to increase public and policy-maker awareness about the importance of biodiversity within kelp forest ecosystems and use science-based methods to monitor their health and improve restoration techniques.
Operation Crayweed is a flagship project from SIMS (the Sydney Institute of Marine Science) who we partnered with to launch our newest kelp restoration project in Sydney, Australia. They are leaders in kelp, which is locally known as crayweed restoration, and have developed a successful method to create kelp forests on reefs where they were once dominant. This method involves transplanting healthy, fertile adults from existing populations and attaching them to rocks using biodegradable mesh drilled into the bottom. There, they survive, thrive, and reproduce until a healthy new ecosystem remains for generations to come - enhancing coastal biodiversity and improving the ecological and economic value of marine environments around Sydney.
We began our project together in October and have started the process of restoring 43,056 sq-ft of kelp, with a long-term goal to restore all of the 70km of lost kelp forests along the Sydney coast.
New Partners for 2023
SeaForester is an environmental impact organization dedicated to restoring the forgotten forests in the ocean. The initiative began in Portugal in 2016 and has since developed into an organization with an international network of partners and projects. With 13 projects across Europe, SeaForester’s work is bringing back vibrant ocean ecosystems that benefit communities around the world.
We will be working with SeaForester to restore kelp forests in Cascais, Portugal.
Kuleana Coral is a Hawaiian nonprofit organization working to put degraded reef ecosystems on a path to resilience so they can persist naturally and without human intervention. Focusing on Hawaii’s coral reefs, Kuleana Coral takes direct action on three objectives: restoring damaged coral reefs around Oahu, monitoring coral reefs to inform ecosystem-based management decisions, and working within the community to educate locals and visitors about the importance of ocean ecosystems and our kuleana to protect them.
SeaTrees will be working with Kuleana Coral to restore degraded coral reefs in Oahu, Hawaii.