Speaker

About the speaker:

Ferdi is a marine engineer at Kelp Blue, where he’s responsible for the design, engineering and installation of the offshore structures from which the Giant Kelp will grow. He holds a Masters in Hydraulic Engineering from TU Delft and a Bachelors degree in Civil Engineering. Before joining Kelp Blue he worked on building an artificial reef to combat coastal erosion in North Sulawesi and project building a bamboo factory in the jungles of Nicaragua together with the indigenous Miskito populations. When not at work, he’s often to be found training for a (half) ironman race.

Company info:

At Kelp Blue, we plant Giant Kelp forests around the globe to boost the health of the oceans and lock away CO2 forever. We harvest only the kelp canopy for sustainable biostimulants, agri-foods, plastic replacements, pharmaceuticals, and textiles.

Presentation:

To restore our planet to equilibrium, or even to abundance, we need to come together to find cost-effective, long term and environmentally sustainable solutions.

At Kelp Blue, we believe we’ve found one solution: growing and managing large-scale Giant Kelp forests. These underwater forests safely lock away vast amounts of CO2 in the ocean forever, help sustain healthy marine ecosystems, and provide food and shelter for countless species. Moreover, kelp can be sustainably and repeatedly harvested to produce ingredients for agriculture, pharmaceuticals and textiles.

At Kelp Blue, we want to have a positive social impact on the coastal communities we operate in. That’s why we set up a workforce development plan to train local people in relevant professions and to create local careers and jobs. We also engage the communities to increase ocean awareness and to inspire people to pursue nature-based solutions.