AFRICA: OceanHub Africa’s call for projects to protect marine ecosystems

African start-ups developing biotechnology, artificial intelligence (AI) and other innovations that can ensure the survival of marine biodiversity have until 14 May 2023 to apply to the call for projects launched by the South Africa-based non-governmental organisation (NGO) OceanHub Africa.

With 11 million tonnes of plastic entering Africa’s waterways each year, the South African-based non-governmental organisation (NGO) OceanHub Africa is looking for 12 green solutions that can help protect the continent’s marine ecosystems. The call for projects, which closes on 14 May 2023, is aimed exclusively at green start-ups led by young entrepreneurs and focused on the implementation of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The main focus is on SDG14, which calls for respect for animal and plant species living in aquatic environments. The candidates of the fourth cohort of OceanHub Africa will therefore have to propose concrete techniques to reduce overfishing and pollution by waste, at a time when the survival of marine biodiversity is under serious threat. The innovations selected on the evening of 18 June 2023 will benefit from a series of training courses on ecological transition over eight months, as well as funding of up to USD 10,000 per project.

In 2022, the initiative awarded six start-ups, including South Africa’s SeaH4. The start-up, founded by Johannes Bochdalofsky, offers clean energy solutions to professionals in the maritime sector in order to limit their dependence on fossil fuels near the sea. For its 2023 edition, OceanHub Africa’s call for projects comes in the wake of the historic adoption of the High Seas Treaty by the UN.

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After two decades of talks, the new text rules on the exploitation of genetic resources in international waters, whose ecosystems contain molecules essential for the development of the cosmetics and pharmaceutical industries. The treaty also contains recommendations to States to ensure the conservation and sustainable use of this biological diversity, which absorbs the CO₂ that causes global warming.