Through research and innovation, we are creating advanced digital infrastructure to scale conservation and sustainable finance mechanisms to permanently protect 30% of oceans by 2030. Our open-source, freely available tools and documents are designed to improve management and financing of marine protected areas.
From seafood traceability to Blue Carbon, existing Measurement, Reporting and Verification (MRV) systems to certify ocean action are costly, fragmented and slow. The lack of transparency and streamlining in MRV cause too many ocean-based sustainability solutions to operate without an adequate knowledge base of marine ecosystems.
We have yet to leverage the full potential of digital technologies, such as artificial intelligence, blockchain, big data and IoT, to scale ocean conservation. The rise and maturity of these emerging technologies provide opportunities for existing and new platforms to finance and scale ocean conservation.
Ocean conservation must happen on multiple scales. From regional Marine Protected Areas to the High Seas, all stakeholders should have access to free open source tools for effective ecosystem-based management.
We are developing methodologies and standards for issuing and verifying marine ecosystem credits that center around scientific integrity, equity and scalability. Our open frameworks seek to advance the quality and scope of digital environmental assets, currently under developed in the ocean sector.
Our Marine Ecosystem Credit framework and Biodiversity Credit methodology incorporate modern practices in digital MRV for advanced tracking of ecosystem services.
Recognizing the urgent need to prevent marine biodiversity loss, we are developing open source digital methodologies for tracking ocean biodiversity health and issuing credits that can be used in finance mechanisms.
Builds models for the outcome-based conservation finance of Marine Protected Areas
Uses digital technologies to automate infractions of illegal activity in Marine Protected Areas
Develops new data methodologies to quantify and rewards the protection of ocean biodiversity
Our Ocean Program has launched our first whitepaper on Marine Ecosystem Credits. In the paper we expand on how credits can be used as a financial instrument tailored for marine protected areas to increase efforts for conservation. Click below to download the paper.
OpenEarth has partnered with Fundación Amigos Isla del Coco (FAICO) to pilot our framework on marine ecosystem credits in the Cocos Island National Park in Costa Rica. The goal is to design solutions that increase funding mechanisms for the MPA and can be replicated elsewhere.
We are currently focused on the development of the first technical methodology and framework for the issuance of biodiversity accounts and credits, as part of the Marine Ecosystem Credit stack. We will be publishing both the technical paper and the open source data pipelines in 2023. Stay tuned!
The OceanDrop raised funds to launch our Ocean Program by auctioning ocean-inspired NFT art, donated by a group of talented digital artists. The funds are directed to the our core research, publications and open source digital product development, as well as support operations for collaborating with the Cocos Island National Park towards a pilot project.
Like all of our programs, our Oceans research and work is open source. We’re looking for passionate developers and marine ecologists to collaborate with code and knowledge to help create a global mechanism to scale ocean conservation.
