Mission Blue Voyage Raises $16.7 Million to Kick Start Solutions to Protect Oceans

NEW YORK, April 15 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, TED and Dr. Sylvia Earle, the 2009 TED Prize winner announced that the Mission Blue Voyage, which brought together 100 global business leaders, marine scientists, deep-sea explorers, entertainers and cultural icons, raised $16.7 million to fund eight initiatives to help protect and preserve the oceans from human impacts. Major donations were made by the Planet Heritage Foundation and the Oak Foundation.

"I am greatly encouraged by the success of the Mission Blue Voyage," said Dr. Sylvia Earle. "Having so many leaders from diverse backgrounds collaborate in such a powerful way provides hope for the recovery and protection of the ocean."

The Mission Blue Voyage was a first-of-its kind conference hosted by TED from April 6-10 aboard the National Geographic Endeavour in the Galapagos Islands.  Participants in the four-day conference, which included: Glenn Close, Edward Norton, Leonardo DiCaprio, Steve Case, Ted Waitt, Chevy Chase, Jean-Michel Cousteau and 30 of the world's leading marine scientists, worked in eight groups designed to create tangible solutions to help bring an urgency to ocean conversation. These initiatives included:

• $500,000 to establish a network of marine protected areas in the Arctic, including a high seas science reserve
• $3.25 million to initiate a public affairs campaign to end fishing subsidies
• $1 million to help improve the protection of the waters around the Galapagos Islands
• $350,000 to create educational programs to teach students about the ocean issues
• $1.1 million to launch a plan to support efforts underway by the government of Bermuda to protect the Sargasso Sea and commitments to raise a further $2.5 million to support the long-term efforts
• Initiative to bring together a pan-Pacific alliance to link seascapes across the Pacific
• $8 million to create a new partnership to fund longer-term oceans projects
• Effort to promote the development and use of new technologies for ocean exploration and research

"I feel that as the world gets more interconnected, we are on the verge of discovering new models for radical collaboration to take on the most challenging issues of our time," said Chris Anderson, TED Curator. "That is what we dreamed when the TED Prize was launched and I believe that we saw this in action last week."

The TED Prize is designed to leverage the TED community's exceptional array of talent and resources. It is awarded annually to an exceptional individual who receives $100,000 and, much more important, "One Wish to Change the World." In 2009, world-renowned, deep-ocean explorer Dr. Sylvia Earle received the TED Prize to fulfill her wish:

"I wish you would use all means at your disposal — films! expeditions! the web! more! — to ignite public support for a global network of marine protected areas, hope spots large enough to save and restore the ocean, the blue heart of the planet."

Currently, it is estimated that just 0.95 percent of the ocean falls within Marine Protected Areas and of that around 0.08 percent is fully protected and set aside for marine wildlife and ecosystems. By contrast, nearly 13 percent of the world's land area is already protected. At the same time, global warming, ocean acidification, sea level rise and shifting weather patterns are stressing natural systems above and below the ocean's surface.  

The first TED Talk from Mission Blue, which features filmmaker Mike de Gruy, was also released today on TED.com (http://www.ted.com/talks/mike_degruy_hooked_by_octopus.html). More than 20 presentations on ocean issues were recorded at Mission Blue and will be released as TED Talks in the coming months.  The first five of these are being sponsored by the Tiffany & Co. Foundation. Since it was established in 2000, the Tiffany & Co. Foundation has supported coral and marine conservation.

Please visit the Mission Blue Facebook page to learn more about Mission Blue, view photos and video from the voyage and to pledge support for Marine Protected Areas.  Learn more about the Mission Blue Foundation at www.mission-blue.org.  For questions related to Mission Blue, please contact Molly Malloy at [email protected] or (212) 704-4593.

About TED

TED is a nonprofit organization devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. Started as a four-day conference in California 25 years ago, TED has grown to support those world-changing ideas with multiple initiatives. At TED, the world's leading thinkers and doers are asked to give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes. Talks are then made available, free, at TED.com. TED speakers have included Bill Gates, Al Gore, Jane Goodall, Elizabeth Gilbert, Sir Richard Branson, Benoit Mandelbrot, Philippe Starck, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Isabel Allende and UK prime minister Gordon Brown.

Two major TED events are held each year: The TED Conference takes place every spring in Long Beach, California (along with a simulcast, TEDActive, in Palm Springs), and TEDGlobal is held each summer in Oxford, UK. TED's media initiatives include TED.com, where new TED Talks are posted daily, and the Open Translation Project, which provides English subtitles and interactive transcripts and allows any TED Talk to be translated into any language by volunteers worldwide.  TED has established the annual TED Prize, where exceptional individuals win "one wish to change the world"; TEDx, which supports individuals and groups in hosting local, self-organized events around the world; and the TED Fellows program, helping world-changing innovators from around the globe to become part of the TED community and amplify the impact of their remarkable projects and activities.

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SOURCE TED