Shaping the future of ocean health: Grantmaking as a tool for oceans conservation and management

The ocean spans more than 70 percent of the earth’s surface and is a vast resource. It plays a crucial role in supporting large ecosystems, which in turn support livelihoods and the world’s diverse economies. The misuse of ocean resources and other external stressors mean that once rich and vibrant ocean ecosystems are slowly being decimated. Additionally, factors such as competing government and industry interests, the migratory nature of fish, and an open access environment on the high seas create huge challenges to effective oceans conservation and governance. Harnessing oceans funding through grantmaking that cuts to the heart of pressing issues is an opportunity to overcome some of these challenges. On February 1, 2017, Stanford’s Environmental Law and Policy Colloquium sat down with Meg Caldwell, Deputy Director of Oceans at the Packard Foundation, to understand the key to effective grantmaking for ocean conservation.

The Packard Foundation’s Oceans Strategy acknowledges that there is no panacea for addressing ocean issues and that a multi-pronged approach is necessary to have broad impact. To this end, the Packard Foundation adopts both a global and ‘focal’, or country-specific strategies. Global strategies include promoting global markets for sustainable seafood, combatting illegal fishing, protecting seabirds and their habitats, and dealing with the impact of climate change on oceans. Focal strategies include ensuring sustainable fisheries and aquaculture practices and protecting key habitats rich in biodiversity.

One of the Packard Foundation’s key global strategies is promoting global markets for sustainable seafood. Caldwell identifies that the Packard Foundation targets the broad spectrum of stakeholders in this market chain, from fishermen, to seafood processors and retailers, to consumers. She has found that creating demand for sustainable fisheries encourages investment in sound fishing practices and a robust governance system, which can help depleted fisheries recover and become sustainable in the long term.

The Packard Foundation’s focal grantmaking strategies intend to influence both seafood producers and consumers. In these settings, Caldwell notes that the Packard Foundation takes the time to understand the prevailing values of a locality to ensure that the Foundation understands the impact of those values on the projects and strategies it supports. Caldwell states, “cultural norms permeate institutions and we understand that protection of resources is only going to be durable if coming from within the country itself.” Understanding the prevailing values of a locality can assist to focus efforts on desired outcomes. For example, in Fiji, the Packard Foundation leveraged existing traditional governance institutions to develop a conservation officer program that worked in each of the 14 provinces to promote sustainable development and management of natural resources. Caldwell noted that while leadership was otherwise present, communities lacked the capacity for effective enforcement. The conservation officer program works because it is a product of existing processes, bolstered by better monitoring and enforcement.

On the flipside, Caldwell explained that it is also necessary for the Packard Foundation to consider “which cultural norms need to change” to allow for sustainable oceans conservation and governance. In this context, one species that has received significant attention is bluefin tuna. In some of the focal countries targeted by the Packard Foundation, bluefin tuna is highly prized and consumed. In these countries, the Packard Foundation helps to incubate “champions” within the country, connecting them with resources and research to assist in their efforts to establish new cultural norms. It can be a slow process. “Change”, Caldwell says, “is incremental, but incredibly powerful”.

The slow but sure success of the Packard Foundation’s oceans grantmaking program is the product of a clear strategy in the face of choppy ocean waters. The Packard Foundation has deliberately adopted a multi-pronged approach to oceans conservation and governance, directing grantmaking toward high impact initiatives. The benefit of the global seafood markets strategy is that, by creating demand for sustainable seafood, the Packard Foundation creates conditions for market and regulatory change.

The strategy is also illustrative of the importance of understanding the core of an issue, and intervening at a point where grants can have the biggest impact. For example, the consumption of shark fin in one part of the world leads to the unsustainable harvest of sharks in faraway ecosystems. Addressing the problem on the demand side can alleviate pressures on those ecosystems more effectively than direct intervention, such as costly and potentially ineffective enforcement of limits on shark fishing.

Further, the Packard Foundation’s strategy shows that effective grantmaking requires a clear appreciation of the local cultural and social norms. An appreciation of the nuances of the local context forms an important litmus test for the likely success of a grant initiative, and whether that initiative can leverage existing institutions, or create new ones. For example, to address environmental issues like fisheries management, the Packard Foundation has provided seed and core funding to develop civil society organizations in countries lacking civil society engagement.

In the face of continuing challenges to oceans conservation and governance, oceans grantmaking shows significant promise in developing solutions, and the Packard Foundation is helping to lead the charge. Grantmaking appears most effective when it adopts a multi-pronged approach that is strategically geared to high impact initiatives and is cognizant of local social and cultural nuances. Long term, the hope is that the challenges to effective oceans conservation and governance at a country-specific and global level are overcome by industry, civil society, and government actors working together. For now, oceans grantmaking is bridging the gaps and helping to shape the future of ocean health in the process.