The ocean is fundamentally important to life on Earth. From its glittering turquoise shallows to its inky depths, the ocean makes up 97 per cent of the liveable space on our planet, home to an estimated 2.2 million species, and supports the livelihoods of over three billion people. Ocean currents are key to global weather patterns, while processes in the ocean produce half of the world’s oxygen, and ocean ecosystems absorb a quarter of the carbon dioxide and over 90 per cent of the heat emitted by humanity.

OUR PROGRAMME:

The Ocean Programme aims to address critical yet often less familiar and underfunded conservation challenges for the global ocean. Ocean conservation work only receives a very small percentage of total environment funding from UK trusts and foundations, demonstrating an urgent need to increase support to the blue heart of our planet. The focus of this Programme is to increase funding and support for work in the following three key strands: