FAQ
Find an answer to all of your questions below.
General questions
Our mission is to represent, empower, support, and accelerate marine ecosystem restoration projects (that are currently still underrepresented) by providing companies and individuals accessible, tangible, and transparent ways to support these projects.
Our vision is to conserve, protect and restore the blue lung of the Earth to slow down climate change, to prevent further degradation of the oceans and marine wildlife habitat, and to ensure survival of the planet and all species on it.
Climate project experts select and follow up on the best marine restoration projects worldwide. In those projects, we work with local people to restore the right marine ecosystems in the right regions to have the most positive effects on biodiversity, carbon storage, employment, livelihood, and the coastal economy.
We then offer easy and tangible solutions to support these marine ecosystem restoration projects for individuals and companies. We ensure transparency and tangibility throughout the restoration process to involve you and your stakeholders as much as possible.
No, Go Ocean identifies as a social enterprise, a company that operates with the primary goal of creating positive social or environmental impact. While traditional businesses focus primarily on generating profits for their shareholders or owners, social enterprises prioritize addressing social issues, improving communities, or tackling environmental challenges.
Success at Go Ocean is measured not only by financial metrics but foremost by the ecosystems we help restore, the local income that is created, the biodiversity that returned, and so on.
You can choose to fill in one of our online order forms for businesses, to fill in our general contact form, or engage in a virtual conversation to decide a suitable collaboration and project for you.
After we receive your order, we register your contribution and send you our elaborate welcome email and the invoice.
From there, you can follow up on your impact through the impact platform (and if applicable, through your impact dashboard). The first update appears after minimum 1 and maximum 6 months, depending on the ecosystem and restoration season.
For example:
- Indonesia – Coral fragments will be transplanted two months after ordering and when the weather conditions are optimal.
- Scotland – Seagrass shoots will be growing in our nurseries throughout winter and we’ll be transplanting the seagrass shoots from April to September.
- Madagascar – Mangroves can be planted throughout the year but not during the dry season in July and August.
- The projects in the North Sea all have a very specific timeline, which will be communicated separately.
- Wildlife monitoring projects provide a monitoring update every three months.
- Implementing maintenance and monitoring mechanisms to track the growth and health of the ecosystems post-restoration is crucial. Regular maintenance can significantly improve survival rates.
- The choice of a mix of native or appropriate species that are well-suited to the local environment and ecosystem helps to ensure their survival and contribution to the ecosystem. Additionally, a well-chosen low-risk restoration site positively affects the ecosystem’s ability to thrive.
- By creating awareness and educating, training, and involving the coastal communities, we can secure a good future. Local involvement fosters a sense of ownership and responsibility. It can lead to care and protection of the ecosystems, even long after the projects were finished.
- Go Ocean adapts to changing environmental conditions and learns from past experiences to help refine strategies for future restoration projects, improving the projects’ sustainability.
About the ocean
Important to know is that all of the carbon we currently have on Earth, is the same amount we have always had. It plays a crucial role in the formation of essential molecules such as proteins and DNA when new life emerges, and carbon also exists in our atmosphere as carbon dioxide (CO2).
The carbon cycle is nature’s process of reusing carbon atoms, as they repeatedly travel from the atmosphere into Earth and then back into the atmosphere. The majority of the carbon is stored in rocks and sediments, while the rest is stored in the ocean, atmosphere, and living organisms. We call these the reservoirs or sinks, through which carbon cycles.
The ocean serves as a giant carbon sink, absorbing carbon from various sources. Also, marine organisms, ranging from marsh plants to whales, are part of the carbon cycle through their life and death processes.
Over millions of years, dead organisms can transform into fossil fuels. When humans utilize these fuels for energy, large quantities of carbon dioxide are emitted into the atmosphere. This surplus of carbon dioxide alters our climate by raising global temperatures, inducing ocean acidification, and destabilizing ecosystems worldwide.
According to scientific estimates, the ocean produces around half of the oxygen that is produced on Earth. Oceanic plankton, which includes certain photosynthetic bacteria, floating plants, and algae, produces the majority of this oxygen.
Although the ocean produces around 50% of the oxygen on Earth, roughly the same amount is consumed by marine life.
(source)
Ocean acidification is the long-term decrease in the pH of seawater, mainly caused by the absorption of carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere.
This shift toward acidity can have harmful effects on marine life, particularly organisms with calcium carbonate shells or skeletons, such as corals, shellfish, and some planktonic species. Ocean acidification can impair their ability to build and maintain their calcium carbonate structures, ultimately impacting their growth, reproduction, and overall health.
While oceans have demonstrated resilience in the past, the scale and pace of human-induced changes are unprecedented and pose significant challenges to their ability to recover and adapt. Urgent action is needed to address the root causes of ocean degradation, mitigate climate change, protect marine biodiversity, and promote sustainable ocean management to enhance the resilience of oceans for future generations.
(source)
We need to build an ocean perspective into our worldview, meaning that we should spread awareness, share learnings, and start conversations. Afterwards, we will be able to understand, appreciate, and act.
First of all, we have to choose to stop causing damages to our oceans. For example, it is devastating to realize what the effects are of the use of fossil fuels on the delicate balance of the ocean’s ecosystems.
- Companies can map their impact on the ocean and optimize their business processes, think about improvement of waste disposal, investment in renewable energy technologies, localize their product lines, …
- As an individual there are many things you can easily do: reduce your plastic use, support sustainable seafood, buy sustainable beauty products, learn about marine issues, and share your knowledge with your friends and family, …
We should start to repair the damages that have already been done. It will have to be a combination of cutting emissions, changing behaviors, and actively repairing what we mistreated. This will result in a healthy ocean engine that again serves- and protects life on earth by capturing carbon, preventing coastal erosion… so that future generations can experience the beauty of our planet as we did.
You can easily support the active restoration of our marine ecosystems with Go Ocean.
The pressure on these ecosystems (and the coastal communities living nearby or depending on them) is mainly human caused and a lot of damage is already done.
There are five large pressures:
- The release of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.
- Climate change.
- Rising water temperatures
- Changing weather patterns with more rains and storms (sediment and pollution flows and wave damage).
- Disrupted ecosystems, such as algae blooms.
- Rising sea level, causing less sun for the ecosystems.
- Acidification of the water.
- Slower growth of calcium carbonate structures, such as shellfish or coral reefs.
- Climate change.
- Plastic pollution.
- Industrial fishing with destructive techniques
- Wastewater, chemicals and microplastics
- Coastal development
A healthy and diverse ecosystem is resilient to one of these pressures, but these five pressures cause cumulative stress all at the same time. The weakened ecosystems are more and more vulnerable.
It is important to limit the pressure on the ecosystems. Conservation and cleaning activities are all important, but these actions cannot restore the complex balance that marine ecosystems need to thrive. Conservation alone is not enough to make our oceans healthy and resilient again.
In short, healthy marine ecosystems are more resilient to climate change and other challenges, but if we don’t act, several ecosystems could reach their tipping point and lose their life-support capacity.
For businesses
- You can choose to support a marine ecosystem restoration project via Go Ocean, on a one-off or recurring basis depending on your own preference. In return, Go Ocean offers tangible and transparent follow up on the project.
- You can choose to fill in one of our online order forms for businesses, to fill in our general contact form, or engage in a virtual conversation to decide a suitable collaboration and project for you.
- Afterward, you can enlarge your scope of positive impact by communicating about your initiative and by building an ocean perspective into our world view.
- As a company you can choose between different projects in different locations. You can also choose to support more than one project. You can find more information about the projects on our website (or on our impact platform).
- You can find our business packages through our business page, or choose to contact us to get our general brochure.
- Not sure where to plant yet? Schedule a call to learn more about our projects and we’ll help you pick the project that suits your company best!
- The restoration activities are carried out by experts and with the help of local communities. Therefore, we can guarantee that the projects also create social and economic – and not only ecological – positive impact.
- Our community activities will be communicated via our newsletters or LinkedIn page, so don’t hesitate to subscribe below and stay informed.
- Let us know which project you want to visit and we’ll get in touch with our local contacts to check for opportunities.
- Group trip opportunities will be communicated via our newsletters or LinkedIn page, so don’t hesitate to subscribe below and stay informed.
- Since the release of greenhouse gases, increasing water temperatures, and ocean acidification are actively damaging our marine ecosystems, it is very important to first reduce your emissions as much as possible by changing processes within your organization. Other companies in our impact ecosystem can help you out with estimations, calculations, reductions, and so on. Afterward, your footprint will be smaller but a certain quantity of emissions always remains, forming your carbon footprint.
- The seagrass meadow and mangrove forest restoration projects in the Go Ocean portfolio both have a positive effect on carbon reduction.
- For seagrass meadows, we are still working on good carbon reduction averages but we can already confirm the large carbon reduction potential of this ecosystem.
- For mangrove forest, we already have good averages at hand, so you can plant mangrove trees in line with your carbon footprint and reduce this negative impact by giving back to the planet.
- Since the general Go Ocean restoration projects are not carbon certified, the projects do not generate carbon credits for the estimated amount of carbon sequestration. You cannot claim carbon neutrality.
- Prefinancing the plantation of a mangrove forest in Madagascar can generate blue carbon credits, if needed. Get in touch to learn more about the possibilities!
- The carbon reduction capacity of coral reefs is rather low. Coral reefs greatly contribute to, for example, biodiversity and wildlife habitat instead.
- Read more about the ecosystem services of our portfolio projects here: https://goocean.be/our-reasons-to-start-with-mangrove-forests-seagrass-meadows-and-coral-reefs/
- If you want to inform and educate your network about marine ecosystem restoration, you can schedule a blue awareness session with us.
- If you want to engage your network to also contribute to a healthy ocean, Go Ocean can set up a donation web page in the Go Ocean environment. The web page is designed with eye for your brand and messaging. All administration ends up directly at Go Ocean, so you can just share your initiative, sit back, and relax!
- Contact us at info@goocean.be if you’re interested.
On the impact platform, you can find more information on our projects (”projects”) and your personal impact dashboard (”partners”). You can access the platform via this link: https://impact.gofamily.be/en
The satellite images displayed on impact-platform get updated every six months on average. This is the case because we aim to provide high resolution images.
- The digital library and the impact platform.
- If you’re already a member, retrieve your welcome email with subject line “Welcome to Go Ocean”!
- Optional but highly recommended: company impact dashboard for transparant reporting and communication (set-up cost of €250 ex. VAT and yearly hosting, maintenance, and development fee of €50 ex. VAT)
- We also offer other services, such as filming a video testimonial, giving a blue awareness session, community events, and so on. Get in touch with us if any of these services grasps your interest.
- In today’s climate-conscious world, adopting a sustainability focus isn’t just a choice; it’s a necessity. We understand that communicating your sustainability initiatives can be daunting, given the challenges of greenwashing and the ever-watchful eye of a critical and communicative audience.
- Effective communication is crucial for your business to showcase your dedication to sustainable practices. To communicate sustainability effectively, be authentic, be transparent, engage with your audience, be positive, and above all don’t be afraid to talk about your sustainability efforts and goals. It’s not about being perfect, but about being a trusted player in the market. It’s a climate journey. Like restoration initiatives, Rome wasn’t built in a day. We can help you with finding the right message, so don’t hesitate to reach out.
- If you require more high-level assistance with this, Go Loud is here to help. At Go Loud, the goal is to help you navigate the sustainability communication landscape effectively. They are your dedicated ally in making your sustainability efforts resonate with your audience and in amplifying your sustainable voice.
- Now more than ever, the world needs to hear remarkable sustainability stories that set an example and inspire others to take climate action.
- Unlock the potential for business leadership through UN SDG 14: Life below Water – the restoration of marine ecosystems. Surprisingly, despite the undeniable reliance of numerous businesses on maritime resources for inputs and transportation, SDG 14 is often overlooked as a priority for business action.
- You can redefine priorities and embark on a journey where your company can be a driving force in revitalizing our ocean and ensuring a sustainable future for all. We provide you with tools for transparent communication and reporting of impact data.
- Retrieve Go Ocean member stories and cases on our website or our LinkedIn page.
- Our invoices are normal, acceptable invoices for your business as a HR, marketing, communication, or CSR cost, depending on your initiative.
- As we are a social enterprise and not a non-profit, we cannot give out tax certificates.
For individuals
- Yes, on https://goocean.be/, go to “get involved” —> “individuals”. Scroll down, choose your project, enter your information, pay, and you’re done! You receive a certificate with QR code for follow up.
Yes, many of our projects can be selected in the webshop!
When your order is completed, the certificate mentions the dedicated project and you can actively follow along via the impact platform. General updates on our projects and progress will reach you automatically via email.
Yes, the certificate will be personalized for them if you leave us their name when checking out.
- As we are a social enterprise and not a non-profit, we cannot give out tax certificates.
- When you request an invoice for your company, the cost can be registered as an HR, marketing, communication, or CSR cost, depending on your initiative.
