The Crisis We Cannot Ignore
The ocean spans over 70% of the planet’s surface, constitutes over 90% of its habitable space, produces more than half the oxygen we breathe, and regulates our climate—yet it receives less than 1% of global philanthropic funding. In 2022, just US$0.9 billion was directed toward ocean conservation globally out of the US$811 billion donated worldwide.
Meanwhile:
- 90% of global fish stocks are overfished or exploited
- A garbage truck’s worth of plastic enters the ocean every minute
- Destructive bottom trawling destroys seabed ecosystems the size of the UK every year
This chronic and profound underfunding is pushing marine ecosystems toward collapse. If we don’t accelerate solutions towards ocean recovery, we risk losing the very system that quite literally, sustains life on Earth.