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Dynamic Planet has been working globally for over a decade to help transform nature tourism from a traditional industry to a regenerative one. That is, starting with the destination, what are its natural assets? Are they pristine or degraded? Are they appropriately valued with adequate regulations and government funding, managed well, and can operators and visitors reinvest in the places they love to contribute to conservation management and economic development?
We prioritize our work around fully or highly marine protected areas for the ‘best bang for the buck’ in the shortest time. When the ocean has space to heal, marine life replenishes spectacularly, with well-managed tourism opportunities inside the reserve, and the spillover of fish outside the reserve improves local fishing, too.
We find the Global Sustainable Tourism Council guidelines helpful for destination management, tour and hotel operators, and travelers. Regenerative tourism models where the traveler can reinvest back into the destination require developing a working framework with the destination (government and businesses including tour and hotel operators) so that when the traveler arrives, they can also invest resources (money and time) into nature protection and management.
Destinations where we’ve worked include Palau, Galapagos, Colombia, and Dominica.
Dominica is a Caribbean Island nation in the eastern Antilles, with intact forests and beautiful rivers, waterfalls, and hot springs amidst its mountainous terrain. After being ravaged by Hurricane Maria in 2017, it was the first country in the world to announce its vision and plan to become a climate-resilient nation.
At the invitation of the government in 2022, National Geographic Pristine Seas conducted an expedition to document Dominica’s underwater world with its suite of science and filming with local partners. Concurrently, Dynamic Planet has been working to assess Dominica’s current marine and coastal economy – and help guide policy reform and market support to help Dominica fulfill its vision.
Wild nature helps absorb carbon; intact forests and reefs provide natural infrastructure protection against storms; ‘nature island’ attracts tourists that will pay to hike, dive, and watch Dominica’s native sperm whales.
Our work in Dominica to date includes an ecosystem service valuation, policy and market evaluations of the fisheries and tourism sectors, and case studies and best practices for holistic island marine and coastal management, including waste management.
Our food systems are incredibly inefficient. Some types of agricultural and fishing subsidies perpetuate harmful practices, making it difficult for transformational change at scale. In addition to supporting campaigns such as Stop Funding Overfishing, Dynamic Planet works closely with those improving the food value chain (fisheries, aquaculture, and farming) through new technologies, improved sustainable practices, and policy reform.
Efficient food systems take pressure off our wild habitats and free them up to do what they originally evolved to do – provide services that we take for granted and receive for free, including cleaning our air and water and stabilizing our climate.
Dynamic Planet has provided strategic advice to blended finance vehicles, funds, and companies to help scale smarter food systems. For example, Aqua-Spark is an investment fund with a focus on sustainable aquaculture businesses around the world. The fund supports small and medium-sized enterprises that produce safe, accessible aquatic life, such as fish, shellfish, and plants, in ways that do not harm our oceans.
Iroquois Valley is an organic farmland finance company that provides farmer-friendly leases and mortgages to the next generation of organic farmers. Since 2007, the fund has directed US $50 million in investments in organic agriculture. The goal is to make organic agriculture the norm, not the exception, in America to benefit the health of the soil and of future generations.
We are always interested in the food systems on the islands and coasts where we work. To explore best-in-class partners to improve your food system, please contact us.
It’s easy to get overwhelmed by the converging climate, biodiversity, equity, and waste crises that we’ve inherited and continued. Older generations recall more nature and less built environment and trash; younger generations identify easily with eco and climate anxiety.
To stay energized and solution-oriented, we need to remain inspired and hopeful. Dynamic Planet does so by sharing best practices and examples of things that work with people all over the world.
We are surrounded by success – the challenge now is to take that to scale.
Steven Monfort,
Director, Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute
Smithsonian’s Earth Optimism showcases conservation actions that are working across sectors and locations, so that good practices can inspire replication and scale at all levels, including with each of us as individuals.
Dynamic Planet has been involved in Earth Optimism since its start in 2017. We’ve helped curate the overall program as well as moderate panels with conservationists, impact investors, institutions, and companies that can help take projects to scale.
The Ocean Panel includes 18 countries and their leaders building momentum toward a sustainable ocean economy where effective protection, sustainable production, and equitable prosperity go together. By enhancing humanity’s relationship with the ocean, bridging ocean health and wealth, working with diverse stakeholders, and harnessing the latest knowledge, the Ocean Panel aims to facilitate a better, more resilient future for people and the planet. The Ocean Panel supports 100% effective management of country waters and the global goal of 30×30.
To build a sustainable ocean economy, we must stop the degradation of the world’s marine ecosystems and improve the environmental status of the oceans. This will require action from all of us.
Erna Solberg
Prime Minister of Norway 2013 – 2021
First co-chair of The Ocean Panel
Dynamic Planet served as a strategic advisor to the Ocean Panel and its Secretariat, housed at World Resources Institute, where we provided the scientific support and business case for 30×30; advised the development of a finance track, bringing together public and private sector groups to sign the Sustainable Blue Economy Finance Principles; and led the Food from the Sea Action Coalition, which convenes public and private sector groups to ensure that 100% of food from the ocean is obtained and processed sustainably by 2030.
Nature is the ultimate circular economy. Everything in nature has a design, purpose and use in the ecosystem. Nothing is wasted. But human production and consumption have trashed our planet, making it unhealthy for people and the rest of life. Even wild fish now have plastics in their bodies – which we then consume.
Concerned about our waste crisis, even in the world’s most remote places, and its toll on the environment and the human spirit, Dynamic Planet has been involved with various circular economy projects and accelerators.
For example, we have served as advisor and facilitator for The Circulars with The World Economic Forum and Accenture since 2015. The Circulars was the world’s premier circular economy award program, recognizing individuals, organizations, and municipalities innovating toward a circular economy and is still contributing to the shift today.
On islands and coastlines where we work, embedding circular economy interventions in our conservation economy program has become critical.
Human industry has been in full swing for little over a century, yet it has brought about a decline in almost every ecosystem on the planet. Nature doesn’t have a design problem. People do.
William McDonough,
Architect, Designer and Author