December 21, 2021 - The Algorand Foundation announces today that it has awarded a grant to Scottish nonprofit SEA. SEA is a dApp suite, environmental kickstarter and cryptocurrency designed to support environmental conservation and marine science. The grant will be used to develop the SEA Nexus - a global network for environmental data on the Algorand blockchain.
The platform will allow anyone, anywhere, on the simplest of technology to submit environmental data to the SEA Nexus - effectively turning every smartphone user on the planet into an environmental sensor. It will form a global network of eyes and ears, monitoring every key environmental variable. The resulting dataset is verified, grouped, analyzed, and made openly available via Nexus’ APIs.
“The grant is a major breakthrough for SEA”, explains James Birchall, founder of the SEA project; “it means we can accelerate our build process, be more ambitious with the size of the dataset we’ll be working with, and spread the word more effectively about our apps. The global scientific community is seeing more and more environmental feedback loops - human-made crises which combine and augment to create exponentially deepening emergencies. The Nexus can identify these situations at an early stage and alert us; it can give us time to react. We need such a system in place as soon as possible, and the Algorand Foundation grant is going to make that happen. And of course, Algorand - the ‘green blockchain’ - is the right place for us to build.”
SEA’s primary scientific advisor, marine biologist Kristina Loosen, adds: “The SEA Nexus will provide previously unseen data availability to all fields - institutions, researchers and the public alike. Previous generations of researchers were often concerned about sharing their raw data openly; the new generation welcomes open source, and the sharing of scientific expertise. The Nexus builds onto this new movement of data accessibility - it will drive the scientific research necessary to combat the climate crisis.”
‘The Algorand ecosystem is already on the path to choosing a more sustainable approach to building blockchain innovation with partners such as PlanetWatch, ClimateTrade, GaiaChain, IUCN and Global Carbon Holding. The Algo grant program is the perfect support for innovators and developers building their sustainable applications on Algorand’. - Addie Wagenknecht, Head of Global Ecosystems and Technical Operations
‘When you think of blockchain as a core infrastructure, applications such as SEA Nexus being built on Algorand can automatically inherit the carbon negative footprint of our network. We welcome SEA Nexus to the Algorand ecosystem and look forward to this exciting partnership'. - Sean Lee, CEO, Algorand Foundation.
For more information on SEA please visit https://sea.earth/ or follow them on Twitter. If you are interested in submitting a project for support from the Algorand Foundation Grant program, please apply here when applications re-open on January 12th, 2022.
About SEA:
SEA is a Scottish nonprofit dedicated to exploring the potential of blockchain for positive environmental impact. As well as the creation of the SEA Nexus (a global network for environmental data on the Algorand blockchain), SEA provides financial resources for eight of the planet’s most active ocean protection organisations - Sea Shepherd, Coral Reef Alliance, Oceanic Preservation Society, Gili Eco Trust, PADI Aware Foundation, FishAct, Greenwave and 5 Gyres. In July 2021, SEA also launched SEAstarter (www.seastarter.org) - the world's first kickstarter platform dedicated to emerging environmental research and activism projects. The first SEAstarter supported project - a research initiative using eDNA methods to track shark populations off the coast of South Africa - launched in November.
