REV Ocean’s science director, Prof Alex Rogers, has written an OP-ED in ECO Magazine focussing on the recent Netflix film Seaspiracy.
Read the full article here:
Seaspiracy or Conspiracy? Truth and Hyperbole Behind the Controversial New Netflix Exposé on Fishing.
ECO Magazine is a marine science publication committed to bringing scientists and professionals the latest ground-breaking research, industry news, and job opportunities from around the world.
As described in the End-of-Phase report, feedstock quality was an issue that emerged following the two pilot studies conducted by the Plastic REVolution Foundation (PRF). The results from the pilots show that certain contaminants need to be removed to meet the PtL feedstock quality requirements. While pyrolysis as a technological solution has a higher tolerance for feedstock of varying composition and quality than mechanical recycling, there are still clear requirements that must be met in the face of large-scale collection from a variety of sources.
With the financial support of the Norwegian Retailers’ Environment Fund, PRF and its partner consultancy Norwaste have been investigating the issue of feedstock quality during the second half of 2020, with findings summarized in this report.
The report dives into the importance of feedstock quality in the context of pyrolysis, and details on the work done on feedstock quality and challenges met in Accra. It further assesses available approaches to improving plastics quality from a general perspective, including improved sorting procedures, and setting clear and realistic expectations at defined interfaces throughout the value chain. Finally, a solution adapted to the Accra project based on the theoretical assessment is proposed.
Read the full report on pyrolysis and feedstock quality here.
Offtake is a crucial element in ensuring economic viability as the revenue-generating component of this project. There are different ways to approach offtake, and as described in-depth in the End-of-Phase report, this depends on the type and quality of the end product and the geographical location of the market. The main priority at the current stage is to identify an end market for the product produced by the pyrolysis plant and where the price allows for viable project economics (i.e., covering the costs of collection, pre-treatment, and operations).
This report is the outcome of a workstream local offtake opportunities, financed by the the Norwegian Retailer’s Environment Fund. Data collection and analysis were done by Gilbert Kofi Adarkwah, Lecturer/Assistant professor in Strategic Management at the BI Business School Department of Strategy and Entrepreneurship, and support by a team of two researchers in Ghana and the Plastic REVolution Foundation (PRF).
The key focus has been mapping the value chain and the pricing structure – including taxes and levies – for diesel (GASOIL) products in Ghana. Among others, the report focuses on the value chain of traditional and non-traditional (including biodiesel) products, provides an overview of petroleum products supply and consumption, and describes the pricing structure of diesel products with their different components.
Read the full report on local offtake here.
Picture by Michal Matlon on Unsplash
Extended Producer Responsibility is an environmental policy approach in which a producer’s responsibility for a product is extended to the post-consumer stage of a product’s life cycle. At its core, the purpose of an EPR scheme is shifting the financial burden of managing the relevant waste streams away from municipalities (and ultimately taxpayers) towards the producers, by providing a mechanism for securing financing for infrastructure investments and operational costs for necessary collection and treatment.
Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) is today a widely adopted policy tool for covering the cost of collection and recovery of various waste fractions in OECD countries. Following an increased consciousness around the challenges of marine plastics, EPR as a political tool has gained traction in a number of countries, and is increasingly being admitted to government strategies around waste management and combating marine pollution. Simultaneously, multinational producers have made voluntary initiatives to limit the negative effects of the plastic products they bring to the market.
Also in Ghana, efforts are currently taking place to implement an EPR scheme. Due to the potential effect of conducive policies that contribute towards covering the cost of collection and pre-treatment, and thus the economic viability of a PtL plant, understanding the current process is of great interest to the Plastic REVolution Foundation (PRF). With the financial support of the Norwegian Retailers’ Environment Fund, PRF and its partner consultancy Norwaste have assessed the ongoing process and outlook for EPR in Ghana, and the work is summarized in this report. The ambition is also that this report may provide an overview of EPR and the ongoing Ghanaian process for the use of PRF and of other actors.
The report provides a general introduction to EPR, including the process of implementing this as a policy tool, and experiences from other middle-income countries. It furthermore considers the ongoing process in Ghana- providing a background to the context and actor gallery, describing the status of the process around implementing EPR, and providing considerations around the outlook going forward.
Read the full report on Extended Producer Responsibility here.
Picture by Etornam Ahiator on Unsplash
March 8, 2021 – Today REV Ocean joined the She of the Sea pledge. REV Ocean is committed to building practices and workplace cultures that actively facilitate, cultivate, and celebrate diversity and inclusion at all levels.
The not-for-profit company is led by CEO and Marine Biologist Nina Jensen. “We have ambitions to be a diversity and inclusion leader within the yachting, maritime, and science sector. There is a significant correlation between the diversity of teams and overall innovation. It makes business sense. To find innovative high–risk–for–high–reward solutions to save the ocean we must prioritize creating a diverse team. To foster creativity and collaboration within the team, everyone must feel included.” –Nina Jensen.
The management team is currently 33% female, and the workforce is 43%. The company is still in its growth phase with a mere 23 employees, yet they already have several nationalities, Dutch, British, Canadian, Spanish, Australian, Norwegian working from all over the world. Industry backgrounds from Aquaculture, Oil, Navy, NGO, Automotive and Deep-Sea Ecology help to bring constructive criticism and breakthrough idea generation.
In June 2020 REV Ocean Signed the UN Global Compact committing to Ten Principles that, at a minimum, meet fundamental responsibilities in the areas of human rights, labour, environment and anti-corruption.
Yachting Industry
“We are now taking further accountability towards our diversity commitment by signing the She of The Sea Pledge. The first step to creating a diverse and inclusive workplace is to assess where you are. For this reason, we worked with Equality Check to provide a third-party audit of our current environment. We are thrilled that our first employee survey responses indicate we are heading in the right direction with an overall equality score of 4.7/5 compared to 3.1 within the Shipping Industry.” –Nina Jensen
“She of the Sea, alongside our Signatories and Ambassadors recognise two things:
1)There are incredible and critical benefits for all major stakeholders that come from weaving diversity and inclusion into our collective DNA.
2) Over the next few years, there will be two sides. Those that lead and those that get left behind. The only choice we have is in which camp we will sit based on the action or inaction of today.
We are honoured to have such a dynamic, agile and forward-thinking organisation join the Pledge. REV Ocean is in a unique position to combine global diversity and inclusion strategies with their mission to foster innovative solutions to global sustainability issues. Seeing this commitment already integrated into their primary focus of environmental impact shows a deep understanding of how critical diverse backgrounds and viewpoints are to this innovation. It is no surprise to see this reflected in above industry average results on the Equality Check Platform. We look forward to seeing the unique and high impact solutions that will come from this exciting partnership” Jenny Matthews, Co-Founder She of the Sea
Science Sector
REV Ocean’s Science team has been working hard to help educate and advise the International science community and influence global governance to provide more opportunities to young and unestablished scientists. Alex Rogers, REV Ocean Science Director, has contributed to several papers demonstrating the importance of involving developing countries in the latest Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction treaty discussions.
“The current Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction treaty discussions have highlighted that the High Seas are open to anyone to perform research as long as they are doing so sustainably. Taking a research expedition vessel to these remote locations, however, is expensive. Legally all nations have access, but economic barriers mean only rich nations truly access the High Seas.” – Alex Rogers
Prof. Rogers has been diligently building inclusion and diversity frameworks for research cruises to collaborate with developing countries.
“The framework provides a process to bring scientists on board vessels they wouldn’t otherwise have access to which is only addressing the first problem of access to the high seas. But the challenge is much broader than this as early career researchers must get training in every step of the research process from writing proposals to planning and executing fieldwork and the laboratory studies afterwards culminating in translation of science to policy. The creation of local career development opportunities, so these scientists can return to their home countries and continue the research building marine science capacity in their countries, is critical. Many developing countries host large biodiversity and are experiencing the most extreme impacts of climate change. They need science capacity to find solutions to the problems affecting their coastal oceans that conserve biodiversity, help to mitigate or adapt to climate change and which benefit people.”
Alex Rogers determination to bring everyone to the science lab is evident in his selection of the REV Ocean Science Innovation Committee which holds the responsibility of reviewing and accepting science proposals to perform research on the REV Ocean vessel. The Committee consists of 5 females and 6 males from all over the world.
“The Science and Innovation Committee was selected to represent an equitable distribution of gender, age and different regions of the ocean. We have members from Central and South America, Africa and the Indian Ocean (Sri Lanka) as well as more developed countries from Europe, the USA and China. We are already benefiting greatly from the diversity of views on how to improve our science and innovation programme particularly in terms of improving its inclusivity.”
Maritime Industry
The final piece of the puzzle is the maritime sector, which has traditionally been dominated by men. “We hire talent based on competency. We will recruit the best and the brightest from all over the world to find new solutions and leverage technological advances that have already been made. We do see a challenge in the talent pool within Marine Technology. Here we need to inspire the next generation to pursue careers within STEM.” Nina Jensen.
“In my twenty-year career as a Marine Technician and Science Systems Manager I can count on a single hand the number of female technicians I have worked with. In the last decade there have been some positive inroads to addressing this balance with the number of female technicians in the global fleet increasing slightly. However, we still have a long way to go, and I think we are passing over a massive amount of potential. In recent years I have participated in several outreach programs that aim to encourage students to pursue a career at sea especially those from underrepresented groups and communities. The ultimate goal is to attract as diverse a group as possible. The study, conservation and stewardship of the oceans is a universal task that is the responsibility of each and every one of us and each and every one of us should be afforded the same opportunities to participate and drive that mission. Ultimately this is a mission that benefits the whole human race and not just mankind” Leighton Rolley, REV Ocean Science Systems Manager
“I navigated these matters for 20 years, and after these years I am quite unaware of the fact that I am a woman in a man’s world. I hope most of the men are equally ignorant to it. I do not expect or accept to be favoured because of it, and I do not expect or accept to be discriminated. Hence, I do not sign on as the female Captain, I sign on as the Captain. A part of the team on the same terms as any colleagues onboard because that is what I am. If we want woman at sea to be the ordinary, we clearly cannot at the same time act as if it is something extraordinary.” Elin Signe Askvik, REV Ocean Captain.
“Since 2001 I have been working many years in South America where I have seen an increase in female offshore workers. In Brazil 20-50% of my bridge officers were female and often graduated top of their class, the best for the job.” REV Ocean Captain, Nils Baadnes. “My experience in South America makes me optimistic. The industry can learn from Brazil’s efforts to increase female interest in maritime careers. I hope this shift towards equality transcends borders and becomes an international trend.”
REV Ocean
REV Ocean is a not-for-profit company created with one overarching purpose and ambition: To make the ocean healthy again. Any profit generated from our projects will be reinvested into our work for a healthier ocean.
For further information and imagery
Media Enquiries, high-resolution imagery and additional technical details can be found at www.revocean.org.
Media contact: Lawrence Hislop lawrence.hislop@revocean.org
She of the Sea
She of the sea holds the clear vision of a high performance, competency focused yachting industry, regardless of gender, race or any other factors. www.sheofthesea.com
Media contact: Jenny Matthews jmatthews@sheofthesea.comm
By Elin Signe Askvik
During my upbringing, no one talked about gender.
I recognise I am fortunate to have grown up in Norway, a country with relatively high equality standards and many opportunities. My parents focused on choices and effort. I don’t think it was conscious, it was just their way of living and working, being sailors and farmers. My sister and I had the same opportunities as my brother. We had the same chances to fail or to succeed. If we failed, my parents were clear that it was because we did not try or want it hard enough. That attitude shaped my life.
Therefore, I believed I could be anything I wanted. So, I became a sailor. That was what I wanted. And later in my life, as a natural progression, and thanks to leaders who judged me for my competence, I became Captain.
Incompetence comes in all forms and shapes, and so does competence. One can be useless regardless the gender, or one can be the best.
We should be hired because we get the job done, not to fulfil a statistic. If I get favoured for being a woman, that pisses me off just as much as being discriminated against because of it. I do not expect or accept any of it.
On that note, we must be careful to categorize all obstacles as a minority-related one. Sometimes obstacles are just that, obstacles. Regardless of what gender you are you will encounter obstacles. I like to think that we all have a similar number of problems, just perhaps different problems depending on who we are.
If they are gender-related, we, as minorities, are better off ignoring it. Instead, shake it off. Talk a little louder and push a little harder and do your best.
There are for sure people out there who may discriminate or challenge you based on characteristics unrelated to your skillset. We all meet them. They should be treated the same way regardless of whom they bully, with ignorance.
I navigated these matters for 20 years, and after these years I am quite unaware of the fact that I am a woman in a man’s world. I hope most of the men are equally ignorant to it. I do not expect or accept to be favoured because of it, and I do not expect or accept to be discriminated against.
Hence, I do not sign on as the female Captain, I sign on as the Captain. A part of the team on the same terms as any man on board because that is what I am. I believe you are whom you think yourself to be.
If we want a woman at sea to be ordinary, we clearly cannot at the same time act as if it is something extraordinary.
However, my experience has granted me access to many different cultures and countries. I recognise that in the world of 2021 we still need to have the topic on the agenda, to continue to make an effort to change the attitude for those who continue to be held back based on their race, religion or gender. We must never give up on the thought that everyone shall have the same chance to fail, and the same chance to succeed. That is equality.
The attitude in any community comes from the top. To change the attitude, we must ensure the right mindset of the managers. Captains, CEOs, crewing agents and evidently parents.
Being a woman at sea is tough sometimes, but it is not just because you are a woman, it is because sometimes it is tough to be at sea. It is not for everyone, but if you have a passion for the ocean, it is worth every struggle.
No man knows how to navigate the sea from birth, and no woman does either. We both need to be taught. We both should have that chance.
Fornebu and Bergen – February 16th, 2021 – REV Ocean and the University of Bergen (UiB) signed an agreement today which marks the beginning of an ambitious partnership focused on innovative ocean solutions and support for a sustainable ocean economy.
REV Ocean and UiB have strong research programmes focused on climate-ocean interaction and the impacts that result from increasing greenhouse gas emissions. Both organisations will join forces to provide new science and advise to the UN Decade for Ocean Science, international assessments such as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and decision-making processes such as the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP).
The Polar regions will be an area where REV Ocean and UiB collaborate to gain knowledge of some of the most remote and least understood areas of the ocean. Multidisciplinary teams will work together to explore deep-sea ecosystems in polar regions and investigate hydrothermal vents under permanent ice cover in the Arctic (4000 m).
Nina Jensen, CEO of REV Ocean, said “Together with UiB we are in an excellent position to unlock some of the mysteries of the polar regions and to champion sustainable ocean solutions with the amazing innovation and commercial organisations based in Bergen. UiB will also play a key role in our plans for educating the public and inspiring positive impact.”
On Feb 9th UiB secured funding for a new project called Shaping European Research Leaders for Marine Sustainability (SEAS) that will offer 37 three-year postdoctoral positions in ocean challenges and sustainability. REV Ocean’s state of the art vessel and multidisciplinary research focus makes it a natural partner to host visiting fellows for field-work for periods of 2-6 months. REV Ocean also plans to offer postdoctoral opportunities with research teams at its headquarters.
”It is through partnerships that the sustainable development goals can be reached. To us – a university with a strategic focus on marine research and the sustainable development goals – a partnership with REV Ocean is very exciting. It gives us all great opportunities to explore and discover in order to, among other things, fill knowledge gaps on deep-sea ecosystems in the polar region. We also enter the Decade of Ocean Science, declared by the UN, and in light of this we are very glad to enter into a new cross-sectoral partnership for research which will result in development and impact on both a local and international level”, says UiB Rector Margareth Hagen.
REV Ocean and UiB have a keen interest in finding solutions in the field of plastic pollution and competence-based measures to prevent such pollution. This includes research, education and other activities outside traditional natural science, and embraces opportunities with business, law, economics and humanities. The partnership between UiB and REV Ocean has great potential to further strengthen these efforts.
Teams will also focus on education and awareness-raising, in cooperation, with the University Museum of Bergen. This is an excellent opportunity to promote education and raise awareness about the oceans’ challenges and promote a scientific approach to problem-solving such as plastic pollution and its impact on the marine environment.
About REV Ocean
REV Ocean is a not-for-profit company created with one overarching purpose and ambition – to make our oceans healthy again. Established in Norway in 2017, REV Ocean’s mission is to enable and inspire ocean solutions and combat the negative pressures currently affecting the ocean. The science strategy is focused on dealing with plastic pollution, climate change, and the environmental impacts of unsustainable fishing.
About The University of Bergen
The University of Bergen (UiB) is Norway’s largest marine university, with research and education of a high international standard and several world leading research environments. UiB is official SDG14, Life below water, Hub for United Nations Academic Impact and the International Association of Universities.
Media Inquiries:
Lawrence Hislop
Communication Director
REV Ocean
+4748500514
Lawrence.Hislop@revocean.org
REV Ocean and the Norwegian Institute for Water Research (NIVA) coordinate actions against plastic pollution, action for blue forests, and collection of ocean data through marine drones and FerryBox ships of opportunity.
REV Ocean and NIVA met last week to formalize their commitments to work together on four key areas.
1. Blue forests for sustainable ocean
Kasper Hancke, marine biologist and PhD senior research scientist at NIVA, co-led an initiative about offshore kelp cultivation and its potential for carbon storage and sequestration, during REV Ocean’s seaweed workshop in November. The workshop brought together industry, scientists, investors, NGOs, and authorities. Together REV Ocean and NIVA are taking the next steps. This will start with exploring ways of filling the knowledge gaps related to seaweed, natural kelp forests and cultivation in relation to moving towards the development of a sustainable economy, conservation of biodiversity and solutions for climate change mitigation.
Seaweed farming has great potential to provide a variety of products that directly address critical targets of several UN Sustainable Development Goals. These products vary from food and animal feed to fertilisers, novel high-value molecules and biopolymers and biofuel. Different actors are exploring potential solutions for carbon sequestration from seaweed as climate restoration actions. These topics were discussed during the REV Ocean seaweed workshop held in November, and we continue discussions with NIVA and other partners to further develop initiatives of offshore seaweed cultivation and potential for carbon capture.” Eva Ramirez-Llodra, REV Ocean Science Coordinator.
Photo: Janne Gitmark/NIVA
2. Marine litter and microplastic in developing countries
NIVA is coordinating 15 European key research institutes to establish harmonized methodologies for the monitoring and assessment of macro-, micro- and nanoplastics in the environment. This should lead to develop blueprints for international standards and recommendations for policy and legislation, an ambitious goal of the newly started European project, EUROqCHARM.
“With NIVA’s leadership, we will start analysing microplastics in drinking water and further scientific collaboration with the aim of contributing to a reduction in marine litter and input from ocean-based and land-based sources. This includes efficient monitoring systems, citizen science as well as forming coalitions and coordinated action on plastic pollution.” Nina Jensen, REV Ocean CEO.
3. The use of marine drones
NIVA is leading the Norwegian infrastructure for drone-based research, mapping and monitoring in the coastal zone; SeaBee. SeaBee is a cutting-edge infrastructure bringing together experts from a variety of fields in a drone-based infrastructure for science and monitoring applications. The goal is to create a cohesive national network, enabling research institutions and other partners to share and use data, collected using drones, to better understand and manage Norway’s natural environment. SeaBee will use this novel data to train a machine-learning algorithm, helping to automate the data analysis process and in turn, allowing researchers to do their important work faster, better, and more cost-efficient.
«The development and use of new, advanced platforms for data collection and analysis, will provide great opportunities for both research and data sharing. Combining this with the facilities offered through REV Ocean, NIVA is looking forward to exciting, cooperative research projects for the future,” says Tor-Petter Johnsen, NIVA Managing Director (from January 1st 2021).
Partnership with REV Ocean will enable SeaBee drones to be deployed in more remote locations and on a global scale. As a result, NIVA will be able to map and explore changes in blue carbon habitats and resources, ecosystem structure and functioning in an era of anthropogenic pressure.
4. The use of FerryBox ships of opportunity equipped with autonomous sensor and sampling systems
REV Ocean is exploring the possibility of operating a FerryBox system aboard the REV Ocean research vessel. FerryBoxes are equipped with a series of physical, chemical, and biological sensors and samplers that provide observations to help us better understand human impacts on marine systems including, but not limited to, climate change, ocean acidification, and microplastics pollution. FerryBoxes also can include advanced sensors for meteorological and atmospheric observations. Data are sent from ships in near real-time and are available for researchers and for the general public on touchscreen interactive consoles at science centres and museums, and onboard the cruise ships.
In 2001, NIVA began FerryBox observations aboard the Color Line ferries and later expanded to several others. High frequency and regular ocean observations are now made by FerryBox systems in every major Norwegian ocean region.
Press Release
(Oslo 2.12.2020)
The Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution and the Ocean (C4IR Ocean) responds to the call from Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg and the other 13 heads of state in the High Level Panel for a Sustainable Ocean Economy and takes on the leadership of the panel’s Action Coalition on Ocean Data, in collaboration with Microsoft Corporation.
Today, the 14 heads of state of the Ocean Panel, controlling nearly 40 percent of the world’s coastlines and 30 percent of the world’s exclusive economic zones (EEZs), have put forward ambitious plans to protect our ocean. They have committed to sustainable management of 100 percent of the ocean ensuring the health and wealth of our ocean for future generations.
C4IR Ocean will work with Microsoft in taking the leadership of the crucial action coalition on ocean data. Data liberated, safeguarded, and made available by the Ocean Data Action Coalition is essential in realizing all the priority actions outlined by the heads of state.
“We need a globally shared ocean data revolution to save the ocean. The Ocean Data Action Coalition will be a substantial contributor to this revolution. At the core of the coalition is the Ocean Data Platform, powered by Cognite Data Fusion, and managed jointly with Microsoft. The Ocean Data Platform liberates and connects ocean data to enable better ocean management and solutions. Only the sharing and meaningful use of relevant data will ensure a healthy and productive ocean”, says Øyvind Eriksen, President and CEO of Aker and chairman of C4IR Ocean.
Microsoft is already heavily involved in sustainable ocean management through its corporate water sustainability program and as a co-founding partner of C4IR Ocean.
“We are only as healthy as our ocean, which is critical to ensuring the planet doesn’t warm more than 1.5 degrees and to economic security around the world. But climate change, pollution, and over-exploitation of marine systems are putting the ocean in jeopardy,” says Lucas Joppa, Microsoft’s Chief Environmental Officer. “Microsoft and C4IR Ocean are committed to ocean health and share a vision about using data and technology to achieve it. All of us need to do more to protect the ocean. The call for action from the heads of state and the work led by the Ocean Data Action Coalition and C4IR Ocean will significantly contribute to a healthy ocean.”
Anchoring the Ocean Data Action Coalition in C4IR Ocean, an independent and non-profit foundation established jointly by Aker and World Economic Forum, will link the initiative to partners from essential sectors. The Coalition will work closely with the 14 states of the panel to support their efforts to develop integrated ocean management based on the recommendations and actions proposed by the High-Level Panel for Ocean Economy.
“C4IR Ocean unites leading private sector actors, leading research institutions and key governmental institutions. The C4IR Ocean is part of a broad global ocean network through the World Economic Forum, World Resources Institute, and the Friends of Ocean Action. The center is also a key supporter to the UN Decade for Ocean Science. This gives us a head start when we now invite motivated and powerful companies and institutions to join forces with us,” says CEO of C4IR Ocean, Bjørn Tore Markussen.
The High-Level Panel for Sustainable Ocean Economy (Ocean Panel) is an initiative of 14 current world leaders building momentum towards a sustainable ocean economy. Established in September 2018, the Ocean Panel has been working with governments, businesses, financial institutions, the science community and civil society to catalyze and scale solutions across policy, governance, technology and finance, and ultimately develop a new ocean action agenda for transitioning to a sustainable ocean economy. Conclusions were presented on December 2, 2020.
The members are Prime Minister Morrison (Australia), Prime Minister Trudeau (Canada), President Piñera (Chile), Prime Minister Bainimarama (Fiji), President Akufo-Addo (Ghana), President Widodo (Indonesia), Prime Minister Holness (Jamaica), Prime Minister Suga (Japan), President Kenyatta (Kenya), President López Obrador (Mexico), President Geingob (Namibia), Prime Minister Solberg (Norway), President Remengesau (Palau) and Prime Minister Costa (Portugal). In addition, Peter Thomson, the UN Special Envoy for the Sea, is a support member.
Aker and the World Economic Forum are behind C4IR Ocean, which is part of the Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution (C4IR) network. The network, comprising of 13 centers globally, develop projects to enable modern technology and digitalization to solve important societal tasks. The objective of C4IR Ocean is to bring industry, academia, government, and the public together to create new and better ways of harnessing rapidly emerging data technologies to heal and restore the ocean so it can be resilient and economically productive. The C4IR Ocean flagship project is the Ocean Data Platform, a global connector of ocean data.
Contact:
C4IR Ocean:
Bjørn Tore Markussen, CEO
C4IR Ocean
Tel. +47 909 15 668
REV Ocean, The Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation, the Oceanographic Institute – Foundation Albert I, Prince of Monaco and Monaco Explorations join forces to foster a healthy Ocean.
Fornebu and Monaco – November 30th, 2020 – The agreement, signed virtually today, marks the beginning of a partnership between REV Ocean and key Monaco institutions working on ocean sustainability.
Nina Jensen, CEO of REV Ocean, commented “This is a great opportunity to work with some of the most prominent marine conservation organisations in the world. HSH Prince Albert II and his foundation have been responsible for launching a phenomenal number of projects to develop marine protected areas and study the impacts of climate change. It is very exciting to think about what we will achieve by combining this level of commitment with the world’s largest research vessel.”
Monegasque institutions are implementing the commitment of HSH Prince Albert II for the environment, notably by fighting against climate change and its effects, preserving biodiversity and combating pollution at its source. Around the Prince, they join forces to relay scientific knowledge, mobilise decision-makers and involve the public. As summed up by HE Mr Bernard Fautrier, Special Advisor to the Sovereign Prince on environmental issues “This partnership is in line with the collective action for the Ocean advocated by Monaco, from research in the field to the transformation of society. We are delighted to enter into this partnership with a like-minded partner, REV Ocean, especially at the beginning of the UN Decade of ocean science for sustainable development”.
One of the major components of the agreement will be to jointly develop projects which will combat the negative impact of climate change and plastic pollution in the Ocean. These projects will draw on the considerable experience of all parties and the capabilities of the REV Ocean vessel to initiate cutting edge research activities aimed at giving policy makers the tools needed to save coral reefs.
REV Ocean is unique in being both a world class research vessel and a state-of-the-art superyacht. To this end, the partners have agreed to work together at events such as the Monaco Yacht Show to ensure the industry becomes a force for good for protecting the oceans.
The partners will also work together to create a global data alliance between the various ongoing efforts to collect, organise and share ocean data, specifically for coral reef management.
The Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation
The Foundation created by HSH Prince Albert II of Monaco is active within the fields of climate change and renewable energies, biodiversity, water and the combating of desertification, and supports projects in specific geographical areas such as the Mediterranean Basin, the Polar Regions and the Least Developed Countries, in order to promote the preservation of the environment and sustainable development. The objectives of the Foundation are to raise awareness amongst both populations and governments of the impact of human activities on the natural environment, to encourage more environmentally-friendly behaviour and to promote outstanding initiatives and innovative solutions, notably by distributing awards and grants.
Oceanographic Institute – Foundation Albert I, Prince of Monaco
The Oceanographic Institute pursues a mission of environmental outreach, to promote knowledge, protection and sustainable management of the Ocean on numerous projects on the national and international scene as symposia, exhibitions, educational programmes, management and operation of the oceanographic museum, digital initiatives. The Oceanographic Institute is also acting to federate those who will contribute to a better understanding and protection of the ocean within different levels: mobilising experts and decision-makers and raising public awareness.
Monaco Explorations
Monaco Explorations is a collective platform, created by the Princely Government of Monaco, to serve the commitment of HSH Prince Albert II and the Principality of Monaco in terms of knowledge, sustainable management and protection of the Ocean. Monaco Explorations is a partnership between the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation, the Oceanographic Institute, the Scientific Centre of Monaco and the Monaco Yacht Club. It supports the actions of these institutions through international missions that combine scientific research, public mediation and government cooperation.
REV Ocean
REV Ocean is a not-for-profit company created with one overarching purpose and ambition – to make our oceans healthy again. Established in Norway in 2017, REV Ocean’s mission is to enable and inspire ocean solutions and combat the negative pressures currently affecting the ocean. The science strategy is focussed on dealing with the issues of plastic pollution, climate change, and the environmental impacts of unsustainable fishing.
