About us
Coast 4C is a social enterprise that aims to integrate the world’s largest supply of regenerative seaweed, benefiting Communities, Commerce, Conservation & Climate. We have established a network of suppliers in the Philippines that we plan to scale up and replicate into Indonesia in the next three years, and to integrate processing close to source that adds value and opens up new markets.
Restorative seaweed farming is increasingly recognised as being the key to the future of our ocean and climate.
We need to scale production fast – our ocean and climate cannot wait.
Large offshore commercial arrays are a thing of the future and will be important in time.
Small-scale fishers already farm seaweed today!
They produce the most cultivated seaweeds globally, despite a severe lack of access to essential services and largely exploitative value chains.
22 million small-scale fishers globally struggle to make a living from declining fish catches.
Unlocking restorative seaweed farming for small-scale fishers linked to community-based marine protected areas delivers benefits for people, planet and profit.
The challenge
Business as usual is not enough
Humanity depends on the ocean
Amongst countless services, the ocean provides 70% of our oxygen; 17% of animal protein, and; buffers us from anthropogenic climate change.
Yet the ocean is on the brink of collapse
Unsustainable exploitation, marine plastic pollution and climate change are compromising all of these critical ecosystem services.
22 million small-scale fishers are critical to food security yet are also under threat
Small-scale fishers produce more than 50% of the world’s seafood and provide 90% of fisheries employment. The majority live in impoverished coastal communities, limited by dysfunctional and exploitative value chains that drive unsustainable behaviours.
The rapid acceleration of the Ocean Economy is marginalising the most vulnerable people with highest dependence on the ocean
A recent report by the High Level Panel for a Sustainable Ocean Economy has highlighted the urgent need to focus on equity in the development of a sustainable ocean economy.
The Coast4C Plan
Restorative seaweed farming and plastics recycling creates development opportunities for coastal communities and drives ocean and climate restoration.
The seaweed revolution is the key to regenerating our ocean and climate:
22 million small-scale fishers need new opportunities:
Coast 4C is the missing link to catalyse change:
Coast 4C is a social enterprise launched by ZSL in 2020 to drive ocean and climate restoration through inclusive value chains for regenerative seaweed and end-of-life fishing nets Coast 4C builds on the award-winning Net-Works project co-created by ZSL and Interface. Our first supply chain turned old fishing nets into carpet tiles, initially developed in the Philippines and with replicability successfully tested in both Cameroon and Indonesia.
The decision to expand Net-Works into Coast 4C was taken in order to accelerate scale-up now that prototyping and piloting has been completed, and to open up new partnerships that will facilitate scale-up and replication.
Research
We believe in the imperative to take positive action based on the best available information, and to continually evaluate and improve. Here is a selection of research undertaken by team members that have informed our approach; research output from student projects we have hosted or supervised, and; peer reviewed publications resulting directly from our work. See more on the Research page.