Role of ecosystem service in the restoration process
Stakeholders Forum
Essential elements for the conservation of biodiversity and ecosystem services for sustainable development are the equitable participation of stakeholders and the organizational development of local management associations. The project has set up a stakeholder forum bringing together all the sectors involved in the park to identify areas of ecological, economic and social interest for which there is a will of the populations to protect and manage them. Its mission is to manage conflicts related to the exploitation and conservation of natural resources, to promote the capacity building of actors, to encourage the emergence of research in the sustainable management of natural resources. This forum has the technical support of the project for their organizational development as well as for technical and financial management, including the monitoring of the rules for the use of their resources. These rules of use were drawn up in a participatory manner for each buffer zone. To do this, a series of consultation sessions was organized for each village.
Benefits drawn: participatory process for revising the park's development plan; participatory ecological monitoring and surveillance.
Security of tenure: the natural boundaries of the park give it protection and the buffer zone is easily demarcated.
Legal consultation framework: recognition of their status and functions by ministerial acts.
In a context where the land use plan is defined, local authorities must be involved in discussing future land use in order to come to a legally recognized agreement that will be accepted and honored in the long term.
Regarding the rules of sustainable management in the buffer zones, the challenge was to develop rules and sanctions in accordance with the forestry legislation in force and applicable at the local level. For this, a series of consultation sessions was carried out to allow the population to become more familiar with the law in terms of conservation and management of natural resources.
Due to their lack of knowledge in these matters, users often perceived the reduction of their natural resources.
Kelp Blue is a commecial entitiy founded by Daniel Hooft in February 2020. Its business headquarters are in Zeist, The Netherlands. It has a subsidiary in Namibia with operational headquarters in Luderitz, Nambibia. At the moment it employs 12 full time employees, 5 part-time employees and 4 interns. The gender balance is 50% female, 50% male. Its mission is "to rewild the oceans by cultivating giant kelp forests"
Kelp Blue focused first on its MISSION. Next we needed to find FUNDING. We obtained in-pinciple funding from Climate Investor Two and Eos Capital for USD $60million.
At the same time we have built a strong competent multi-disciplinary TEAM with deep experience in multiple industries. Each of us brings our own learnings and unique skills to the table; this means we can take advantage of different perspectives and best practices as we look to grow Kelp Blue.
Always focus on your mission - it will dictate all of the decisions you from whom you employ, the selection of suppliers and even your processing techniques.
Having stong funding partners with the same vision is key.
Don't underestimate the time and energy fundraising takes, start at least 6 months before you really need the funds.
Kelp Forest Foundation - filling the gap in the science around cultivated kelp forest
Kelp Forest Foundation logo
Kelp Forest Foundation
Giant kelp is drastically understudied given the benefits it can deliver. The promise of cultivated kelp and its ecosystem services need to be quantified and unlocked to speed up the expansion of kelp cultivation at scale. This will help mitigate climate change and create sustainable products which will displace the current more environmentally damaging products.
The Kelp Forest Foundation was set up to help address the gap in science and knowledge around giant kelp forests’ ecosystem services – and to ensure this new knowledge is publicly available to companies, governments, regulators, not-for-profits, academics, and other stakeholders in order to accelerate the awareness and application of cultivated kelp forests as a powerful nature-based solution.
The initial research will be undertaken in and around the Kelp Blue' s cultivated offshore kelp forests in Namibia but later on it will continue in other global locations.
The foundation will be adding to the research done by other organizations such as Oceans 2050 and Bigelow Laboratory. KFF will sponsor MSc's and PhD's from Namiban universities such as UNAM and NUST and is working with international universities such as University of Cambridge, University of Portsmouth, Utrecht university to create carbon pathway models and co-supervise students.
It is important to prioritize the most important questions first and focus resources towards answering them.
Accessing ocean-based technology to collect the relevant data which is both user-friendly and affordable can be challenging.
Shows millions of Macrocystis gametophyte cells self-propagating. They remain vegetative until the environment is changed to turn them fertile, producing sporophytes. This is enough to seed hundreds of kilometers of Macrocystis farm.
Hortimare
Hortimare, a Dutch-based company, is one of the few companies in the world specialising in the genetics, breeding and propagating of seaweed. Hortimare works with Kelp Blue to create starting material, increase yield and research on best growing techiniques of the Macrocystis pyrifera specie.
Holtimare has a state-of- the art lab in The Netherlands as well as a highly trained experienced team which specializes in seaweed breeding and propagating. Hortimare is an external technical consultant that is helping Kelp Blue set up and develop a hatchery in Namibia and to train a local workforce to run it. They also work together with Kelp Blue in sourcing, collecting and cultivation methods. They are also co-creating a giant kelp seedbank for future use.
The breeding of kelp seedlings is an essential first step in the cultivation of seaweed. There is no public Macrocystis seed bank so Kelp Blue has had to work with partners around the world to sustainably collect spores from wild kelp beds and transport them back to The Netherlands where Hortimare then optimizes Kelp Blue's hatchery system and seeding technique to get to predictable and consistent yield. They share all the information that is needed to make the farm successful. This as a win-win for both parties. Hortimare gets more and more reliable data and knowledge to be able to develop a certain standard and Kelp Blue can translate their findings to predictability of operation.
Sustainably sourcing material, a breeding programme and a property set up hatchery are the cornerstone of any seweed farmer's project.
