Keeling Curve

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Project Summary / Description:

Kelp Blue was set up 17th March 2020, around the time COVID started to hit the world. It was set up by Daniel Hooft, ex-Shell offshore engineer, and co-founded together with Caroline Slootweg, who has a long career in fast moving goods and mar-tech and agri-tech startups.

Kelp Blue is a kelp cultivation and climate impact business. Its corporate headquarters are located in the Netherlands and its operational headquarters in Namibia We exist to achieve 2 primary objectives: sequestering carbon on a globally significant scale and boosting biodiversity in local ecosystems. This is achieved through the development and operation of large-scale commercial kelp farms. A portion of this kelp is consistently harvested to produce sustainable and carbon negative products which are then utilised to displace harmful products in the global supply chain. 

Our aim is to cultivate and curate the knowledge required for kelp-based solutions to become useful and economic at the scale required for change. On both a commercial and ecological level, this is a truly necessary endeavour which can accelerate our economy‚ mindset away from one of damage-mitigation, towards one in which our productive industries are in harmony with and in benefit of our delicate environment. We combine environmental sustainability with financial success, creating a positive effect for planet, people and profits.

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We have a grand vision of change, setting the blueprint for how we as humans can live in harmony (and even restore) nature, while still deriving revenue and providing employment for local communities to develop and so people can be economically independent.

We envision our social impact of our business as follows:
Large-scale giant kelp cultivation provides long-term, sustainable, meaningful employment opportunities centred in coastal communities that are often
economically in decline and/or badly affected by the COVID pandemic.
The employment created falls in a broad range of categories, from laboratory/hatchery work for kelp sporophytes, to construction and offshore installation services, to submarine monitoring, to harvesting and processing, logistics, administrative, sales and support functions which will create non-traditional employment for the female population of Namibia.
Cost-effective processing requires that this be done as close to the harvesting point as possible, ensuring that value-add employment will stay local.
Substantial indirect economic activity is expected, from touristic (e.g. snorkeling and diving in kelp forests, recreational fishing along the fringes of the kelp forests) to kelp-focused cuisine and artisanal production (e.g. kelp
brownies, shampoo, skin creams, soap, paper, jewelry, use in spa treatments).
Kelp forests‚ role as a source of food and shelter fo pelagic species, and the specific role they play in being the favoured spawning area for sardines, will result in an increase in fish stocks. If well managed, this could contribute to restoring the Benguela fishing industry to its former glory.
The creation of value-added products in Namibia for local consumption and export will help to promote the national economic development.

In addition, through the Kelp Forest Foundation (KFF) set up by Kelp Blue in 2021, we are creating ocean-sensitisation extracurricular activities, ocean education programmes and re-skilling workshops and capacity building initiatives. These will be set up with the careful consideration of gender and diversity and will ensure that no-one, especially women, in the community is left behind. The results of this programme will be used to create a blueprint to be replicated in other communities. It will help fill the gap in the skill sets in the local community which are necessary to grow the seaweed industry in Namibia.

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