Sea Turtles Forever is a non-profit organization which conducts research and monitoring of endangered sea turtles in Costa Rica, and also researches the effects of marine plastic debris in the Pacific Ocean. They designed a Microplastic Filtration System that uses patented static charged filtration (SCF) technology to remove microplastics as small as 100 micrometers in size (the size of a grain of sand). It is a carbon neutral, manually operated filtration system that is designed to remediate a beach environment to its pristine state.

Coralium is a multidisciplinary team that works in collaboration with government institutions and organizations to actively conserve and restore coral reefs in the Mexican Caribbean. The group has been researching the basic reproductive biology of various coral species and their use in reef restoration projects since 2007 and was able to produce sexual recruits of several species of corals in the laboratory, which are now planted on degraded reefs or reefs damaged by ship groundings.

What started with a handful of projects back in 1998, has turned into a network for sea turtles conservation of over 50 communities in nothwestern Mexico and international collaborations with projects in the United States, Japan, Cuba, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, El Salvador and Ecuador. And a great thing about it is that it mostly consists of ordinary citizens like teachers, fishers or students which proves once more that we all have the potential to make a change!

Healthy Reefs for Healthy People Initiative (HRI) is a globally unique international collaborative program of coral reef-focused research, management and conservation organizations dedicated to safeguarding the Mesoamerican Reef. They are located and active in Mexico, Belize, Guatemala and Honduras.

Tortugas de Pacuare is an NGO dedicated to the protection of our wildlife, with a focus on sea turtles such as Leatherbacks, Green, Hawksbill and Olive Ridley sea turtles. Costa Rica is home to some of the most important beaches in the world for turtle nesting. While the government protects some areas, especially national parks, many important beaches for turtles remain unprotected. For this reason, the project Tortugas de Pacuare was initiated in 2010.

Child Aid Papua firmly believes that every child has a right to an education and that education is the key to sustainable environmental protection. The project aims at achieving a better future for both humans and the environment.

The charity is systematically pursuing its vision and making an important contribution in West-Papua by increasing the level of education, helping with healthcare programs and raising awareness regarding important environmental issues for the local communities in Raja Ampat.

The Marine Conservation Institute is dedicated to securing permanent, strong protection for the oceans’ most important places – for us and future generations. Their priority is to help create an urgently-needed worldwide system of strongly protected areas—the Global Ocean Refuge System—as a strategic way to ensure the future diversity and abundance of marine life. To enhance marine protection efforts in the U.S. and around the globe, they also built and maintain the world’s most comprehensive online marine protected area database, the Atlas of Marine Protection.

The Global Ocean Refuge System improves the quality and quantity of marine protection globally by awarding protected areas that meet science-based standards. It is helping the world create an urgently-needed worldwide system of strongly protected areas through strategic and cost-effective ways, ensuring the future diversity and abundance of marine life.