The Sapphire Project

Presented by Tiffany & Co., The Sapphire Project (by Protect What is Precious®) has been created as a legacy project in Australia, supporting our oceans locally by connecting into the global conversation created by United Nations World Oceans Day each year. The project offers a platform for the Australian philanthropic community to support the critically underfunded area of ocean conservation. Less than 2% of all charitable giving in Australia goes to the environment and within this, even less goes to the oceans. As a friend of the UN World Oceans Day Organisation, under the 2023 theme “Planet Ocean: Tides are Changing, with the tagline: Time to put the ocean first!”, Our second annual main event Sapphire Dinner took place on World Oceans Day 8 June. In 2023, we will focus its support on NSW waters and the Great Barrier Reef - a World Heritage Site, one of the seven natural wonders of the world, the largest living structure on Earth, one of Australia’s proudest cultural assets. The Great Barrier Reef is often referred to as the lungs of our planet. It is even more biodiverse than the Amazon rainforest. Like the Amazon rainforest, the reef has been burning - underwater. Global warming has seen the Great Barrier Reef suffer from repeated bleaching events, and if global warming reaches 2 degrees we can expect to lose up to 98% of reefs worldwide. What we do now between 2020 and 2030 will determine the fate of humanity’s future on Earth for the next 10,000 years. The Sapphire Project does not receive any funds from ticket sales or donations. The Great Barrier Reef Foundation (ABN 82 090 616 443) is partnered with The Sapphire Project as our payment processor to administer and distribute raised funds including ticket sales, donations and charity proceeds to the recipient ocean organisations with no administration fee, and independently checked. All supported organisations are registered charities (DGR1) in Australia.