OUR STORY
At Coast 4C, our story is deeply personal —rooted in a shared passion for the ocean and a commitment to uplifting coastal communities.
EARLY 2000S
In the early 2000’s, co-founders Nick Hill and Amado “Madz” Blanco, set out to address the challenges faced by fishers and seaweed farmers in the Philippines. Nick, an ecologist and PhD student at Zoological Society of London and Imperial College London disenchanted by the traditional conservation model, met Madz, a leader in marine conservation and community empowerment who headed Project Seahorse Foundation for Marine Conservation in the Phillipines.
By 2007, they embarked on a mission to understand and address the challenges faced by fishers and seaweed farmers in the Philippines. Madz had been searching for a solution to reduce dependence on declining fishing stocks and noticed that communities involved in seaweed farming did not appear to be any better off socioeconomically or environmentally.
With this, Nick conducted over 4 000 interviews, workshops, and focus group discussions. Through years of living alongside these communities, conducting research, and co-developing solutions, we discovered that true change comes from within—when communities are empowered to take ownership of their resources and future. Through its science-driven conservation mission, ZSL provided the support and opportunity for Nick and Madz to develop their concepts.
FROM 2010
By 2012, Nick and Madz saw the profound impact of this work when communities began investing their own hard-earned cash into local conservation efforts, driven by a renewed sense of agency and hope. This led to Net-Works™ an award-winning collaboration between ZSL and sustainable modular flooring manufacturer Interface that tested the community engagement model.
It ultimately spawned the creation of Coast 4C, a movement built on the principles of sustainability, collaboration, and respect for local wisdom. In 2020, Coast 4C was launched, officially spinning out of ZSL in 2022, transitioning our efforts into a focused mission, to build a dependable supply of high-quality, responsibly sourced seaweed for food, feed, fertiliser, and plastics markets, while building resilient blue economies through coastal restoration and community upliftment, and unlocking the scaleable potential of smallholder farmers.
Today, our multidisciplinary team, many of whom come from the very communities we serve, continues to work hand-in-hand with coastal populations to create sustainable livelihoods, restore marine ecosystems, and build a thriving blue economy.
Coast 4C is more than a company; it is a testament to the power of community-led change and the belief that together, we can create a better future for our oceans and the people who depend on them.
TODAY