Belgian businessman Gunter Pauli, best known for his 'Blue Economy', has announced a new project. He is calling on everyone who visits Bonaire to help 'reforest' the sea around the Caribbean island. The only thing they need is a diving licence. Pauli is one of the speakers at the symposium The future of Ecosystems/Ecosystems for the future in Amsterdam on 30 October.

During his TEDx talk in Maastricht in September, Gunter Pauli first mentioned his aim of planting one hunderd million new corals around Bonaire, which he visited last summer. Maastricht was given the scoop, Pauli wrote on twitter: the project will be launched in November.

Pauli: "After successfully regenerating the rain forest in Colombia, time to regenerate the corals in the sea!" With 65% of the planet covered by sea and that percentage set to rise a further 10% due to global warming, "how come we only plant trees on land?"

Forests of the sea
According to Pauli, 85% of the world's corals are currently "stressed" or under threat. But the good news is that if you break off a piece of coral, both halves will regenerate. And according to Pauli, corals grow at a rate of 2.5 cm per month in the sea around Bonaire.

The first 3,000 new corals have already been planted. "Who is ready to get a PADI diving certificate and then plant their 1,000?", asks Pauli on Twitter. 

Act first
It's typical of the 57-year-old businessman's philosophy: start small and don't allow yourself to be discouraged. "When we started regenerating rain forests in Colombia with a single tree in 1984, science told us we were wasting our time. Now the forest stands." 

Sometimes, says Pauli, it's better to act first and analyse later. This is true for the Bonaire corals project as well: "Let's create a new reality then subject ourselves to scientific evidence."

Blue Economy
Another key to Pauli's thinking is that it's not enough to focus only on the result, without looking at the process that leads there. This is in fact the main idea behind the notion of a "blue" economy.

Having a "green" economy means paying extra to ensure things are produced in an ecologically sound way. But according to Pauli, it's possible to have it both ways: by increasing efficiency and creating jobs, better production methods can actually make money. 

Success stories
One of the "blue"  economy's success stories is growing mushrooms on coffee dregs. During the production and consumption of coffee, 99% ends up as waste. But that waste is ideal for mushrooms, and you don't need a lot of money or equipment.

One of the pioneers of growing mushrooms on coffee waste has been Chido Govera from Zimbabwe, who escaped from poverty with Pauli's support. Growing kits from Chido's Mushrooms have proved a hit in Germany, while in the Netherlands GRO is doing something similar.

Solar panels
Pauli is setting his aims high. The ambitious promise in his book about the Blue Economy is: "10 years, 100 innovations, 100 million jobs." In order to achieve this, he writes, it is vital that we "use wat we have." 

And so, in addition to launching his corals project, Pauli is asking questions such as: why is Europe importing solar water heaters from China when there is enough demand to build assembly plants 'at home' that are both cheaper and more ecological?

Change the rules
But at the end of the day, it's not about products or even production methods, says Pauli: "I do not wish to substitute one product with another - we need to change the rules of the game."