The ocean takes on overriding importance in the 21st century. Known to cover 71% of the Earth's surface and to have bred the earliest life form, it plays a crucial role in the global economy and community. On a wide spectrum from the formation of global climate and ecological framework to the human acquisition of energy and food, failures to address problems in marine conservation would give a devastating blow to humanity.

Unfortunately, the ocean remains one of the weakest links in human knowledge: much less about it is known than about the cosmos. The lack of knowledge, as well as over-exploitation and insufficient conservation actions, has resulted in various problems in marine ecology, including pollution and debris, overfishing, habitat loss and degradation, and the destruction of coastal zones. (Food and Agricultural Organization) FAO estimated that 70% of the world's fish stocks are being depleted and that such depletion is twice as fast as forest depletion.
As an updated measure to better protect global ecology, the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020 under the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) was officially adopted in Nagoya, Japan, in 2010, hoping that by 2020, the world's marine protected area will reach 10%, but up till now only 4.8% has been accomplished across the globe.
In 2016, we launched a Blue Pioneers Program to build marine conservation capacity among Chinese nonprofit organizations and have since gained some international influence.
Initiated together with Yintai Foundation and other international partners, the Blue Pioneers Program started in 2016 for marine talent training. The goal is to raise 100 professionals and 20 nonprofit organizations for marine conservation in the following 10 years.