3 Ways USAID and the Private Sector Work Together to Protect Our Oceans

How these enterprises are expanding global efforts to restore ocean health

Mollusk collectors on the small island, Ilha, Mozambique, have been taught sustainable harvesting methods that help to protect the marine eco-system. / Jason Florio for USAID

A healthy ocean sustains all life on Earth, regulates our climate and weather, and provides food security and livelihoods for billions of people around the globe. However, overfishing, rising greenhouse gas emissions — leading to ocean warming, sea level rise, ocean acidification — and pervasive ocean plastic pollution threaten ocean health and marine biodiversity. The sharp decline in ocean health directly impacts human wellbeing.

When the ocean suffers, we suffer too.

Addressing this crisis requires urgent, cross-collaboration among businesses, governments, civil society, and local communities. Together, we must develop and scale innovation, catalyze and target investments, and establish sustainable, circular economies to restore our ocean.

While no single entity can solve the crisis alone, the private sector has a critical role to play in driving ocean health restoration efforts globally. Here are three ways USAID and the private sector are working together to advance ocean conservation.

Fatima Mario and Aisha Tancia have been taught sustainable harvesting methods that help to protect the marine eco-system, and thus their livelihoods. / Jason Florio for USAID

1. Building an Inclusive and Sustainable Blue Economy

Northern Mozambique’s coastal areas boast stunning and vital terrestrial and marine resources. However, these areas face significant threats, including climate change, lack of economic opportunities, and increasing levels of violent extremism. Additionally, overfishing and habitat degradation jeopardize sustainable coastal management and conservation efforts.

In USAID’s Resilient Coastal Communities Activity, the Agency, the private sector, civil society, and local communities have joined forces.

This activity is developing and piloting projects that are creating a significant number of jobs and economic opportunities; empowering women and youth as leaders and change agents in community management of coastal and marine ecosystems vital to food security; increasing agricultural production in a way that is environmentally friendly and efficient, while also connecting farmers to markets and increasing their incomes; and providing coastal communities with the knowledge and resources to respond to a changing climate so they can better protect themselves and their livelihoods.

Fishing vessel unloading catches at Erie Fish Landing Base (PPI) in Ambon, Maluku Province. / USAID Ber-IKAN

2. Investing in Sustainable Fisheries Management

Indonesia’s coral reef ecosystems, seagrass beds, and mangrove forests are among the world’s most critical ecosystems. But threats from over-exploitation, destructive fishing practices, and climate change are wreaking havoc on these important habitats.

When healthy, these marine and coastal ecosystems are key to productive fisheries that underpin food security and livelihoods that employ 14 million Indonesians.

Through the Collaborative Fisheries Management or Bersama Kelola Perikanan activity (USAID Ber-IKAN), USAID is partnering with the Indonesian government and the private sector to protect Indonesia’s marine biodiversity by supporting sustainable and equitable management of fisheries.

As of 2024, USAID has partnered with seven local fishery companies — including producers, processors, and exporters — and three Indonesian fishery industry associations.

Through July 2027, USAID Ber-IKAN aims to strengthen the management of significant fisheries management areas and increase the livelihoods of 5,000 people dependent on these fisheries. By leveraging private sector resources, USAID will strengthen small-scale fisher cooperatives, help women-owned fishery businesses, and reduce the carbon footprint of fishery operations.

And by mobilizing private sector-driven contributions and solutions, USAID assists Indonesia to increase resilience in the areas of marine ecosystem health, biodiversity conservation, improved livelihoods, and fisheries sustainability for future generations.

Production employees at the Tridi Oasis plastic recycling processing plant. / Tridi Oasis

3. Reducing Plastic Waste through Strategic Investment

Ocean plastic pollution has reached crisis levels: every minute an entire garbage truck’s worth of plastic enters the world’s oceans — amounting to an alarming 11 million metric tons per year.

The CIRCLE Alliance — Catalyzing Inclusive, Resilient, and Circular Local Economies — is a new public-private collaboration supporting entrepreneurs and small businesses across the plastics value chain to scale solutions that reduce plastic use, tackle plastic waste, and build thriving circular economies.

Founded by Unilever, USAID, and EY, CIRCLE has received start-up funds from each partner, including USAID’s EDGE Fund, which is designed to leverage the private sector’s expertise in confronting some of the most significant challenges of our time, and GEEA Fund, which is advancing economic security for women and girls.

“We are scaling this program by combining the specific comparative advantages of each partner in the CIRCLE Alliance … . USAID’s experience in empowering women in plastic waste value chains, and our long standing local relationships with national and local governments — and of course, with civil society. Unilever has unrivaled knowledge of, and an unrivaled role in, the plastic supply chains. EY brings experience in providing professional support to help businesses grow and thrive. So this is an incredible foundation for the CIRCLE Alliance, it’s a triple win,” said Administrator Samantha Power at the CIRCLE Alliance Launch Event in June.

An audience member holds a brochure about the CIRCLE Alliance during the Washington D.C. launch event. / USAID

CIRCLE is tackling plastic waste through three main approaches:

1. supporting businesses that reduce, reuse, and recycle plastics, including those testing product refill models, to integrate them into supply chains and provide scaling support;
2. advocating for mandatory Extended Producer Responsibility policies; and
3. empowering women in the waste sector by aiding entrepreneurs, and enhancing the livelihoods and conditions of informal waste collectors who are critical to advancing circular economies.

To date, USAID’s programs to address plastic pollution under the Save Our Seas Initiative have prevented approximately 1.2 million metric tons of plastic from leaking into the environment — the equivalent of 127 billion plastic bottles — improved solid waste services for 11.3 million people, and catalyzed $138.7 million of private sector and public funding commitments for solid waste management and recycling.

About the Author

The USAID Private Sector Engagement (PSE) Hub leads the Agency’s implementation of the PSE policy to expand collaboration with the private sector for more sustainable outcomes.