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While I hope Seacology succeeds, their approach definitely lacks the novelty that Mr. Greenwald ascribes to it. Conservation NGOs trying to work with communities in this fashion is, in fact, nothing new.
The approach dates to at least the 1970s, perhaps even earlier, when the indigenous peoples' rights and environmental movements began to encounter one another, More than fifteen years ago, when I graduated from school, one of the first "real" things I ever did was assist negotiation of relationships (and sorting out problems) between environmental NGOs and Amazonian indigenous peoples.
I hope (and presume) that Seacology knows more about the water that's under the bridges, because these kinds of relationships tend to be extremely tricky in practice. The differences in expectations, cultures, and negotiating styles can be serious. While there is frequently common interest in preserving resources, there's a world of difference between Berkeley and the realities of the rainforest, and this type of gulf has led a lot of efforts like this to their downfall.
