As our 2024 seagrass seed collection in North Wales draws to a close we spoke to Seagrass Ocean Rescue volunteer Bob Pethers about his experience of volunteering as part of the project. Tell us a little bit about yourself: I’m Bob Pethers, originally from London but have lived and worked
Restoration Forth aims to restore seagrass meadows and native oysters into the Firth of Forth, to create a healthier coastline for people and nature. Find out more about the project here. Seagrass – the outcome of monitoring Back in March, 128 volunteers helped Restoration Forth plant more seagrass seeds along
196 of the world’s nations are committed under the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework to tackling nature loss. Habitat restoration is a major pathway to tackling this loss. For marine habitats such as seagrass, such restoration is often portrayed as an easy answer to fighting many of our planetary ills causing
Seagrass Network Cymru have submitted a National Seagrass Action Plan to the Senedd. Seagrass meadows are critically important allies to tackle the global climate and biodiversity crises and the National Seagrass Action Plan is a direct response to the current condition of seagrass habitat in Wales and the need for a
On the 9th and 10th of July Project Seagrass welcomed local organisations and members of the community to our Seagrass Nursery in West Wales as part of a series of Open Days. On the 9th July representatives from Pembrokeshire Council, Carmarthenshire Council, Pembrokeshire Coastal Forum, Rebel Energy, SeaLife, Bodorgan Estate,
Seagrass meadows provide a range of environmental, economic, and social benefits to people and planet. They provide habitat, food, and shelter to thousands of species of fish, invertebrates, mammals, reptiles, and birds. Through their diverse use as fishing grounds, they support the creation of jobs and provide access to food sources
Restoration Forth aims to restore seagrass meadows and native oysters into the Firth of Forth, to create a healthier coastline for people and nature. Find out more about the project here. Orkney seagrass trip Next month the seagrass team will be departing for their annual seed collection trip in Orkney. Following
This Pride Month we’re celebrating our work with Pride Cymru. Thanks to support from Catalyst Cymru, Pride Cymru volunteers supported fieldwork to plant seagrass seeds as part of our programme of restoration work in North Wales. The planting took place earlier this year in Hafan y Môr, Pwllheli. An introduction
Between the 17th and 21st June 2024, over 500 scientists, conservation professionals, and managers will converge in Naples, Italy for the 15th International Seagrass Biology Workshop (ISBW15). It will be two years since the last meeting in Annapolis, USA. The theme of ISBW15 is “Seagrasses in the Anthropocene”, centred around
The theme of the 2024 World Ocean Day is catalyzing action for our ocean and climate. This recognises the fact that the health of the marine environment, including our globally declining seagrass meadows, requires significantly stronger local, national, and international action from both government and corporate leaders. In this article
As our 2024 seagrass seed collection in North Wales draws to a close we spoke to Seagrass Ocean Rescue volunteer Bob Pethers about his experience of volunteering as part of the project. Tell us a little bit about yourself: I’m Bob Pethers, originally from London but have lived and worked in North Wales for 40 years. I have taken early retirement from the NHS and currently volunteer with North Wales Wildlife Trust and Project Seagrass. How did you first get involved with the seagrass restoration community project? At the end of a Shoresearch rocky shore survey for the North Wales Wildlife Trust we were given a short presentation on seagrass restoration and I realised immediately that this combined my concern for the health of our seas with my enthusiasm for gardening! I ended up on a seagrass monitoring course run by Project Seagrass, and the rest is history. What are your hopes for this restoration work? That it makes a difference to the health of our seas, and it will! What inspired you to get involved, what drives your commitment to this cause? I jokingly say that I’m involved in seagrass restoration purely out of self interest as one of my hobbies is sea fishing, and healthy seagrass meadows lead to healthy fish populations! In reality I’ve always been concerned about the environment and nature and considered myself an environmentalist from when it really wasn’t fashionable. Looking back I realise we could have done more (hindsight is a wonderful thing), but still proud of our efforts to find peat free compost 30 years ago! Now I have the opportunity to make a difference around my local shores, and the thought of thriving seagrass meadows in the future drives me forward on those cold and rainy spring tides. What does it mean to you to spend time in nature, what do you feel nature provides you with? Being in nature enhances my physical and mental health, nothing can beat being in the moment. What seagrass restoration activities have you taken part in? After agreeing a planting area with Project Seagrass, I started off collecting fragments at Porthdinllaen and planting these (after cleaning off other lifeforms and soaking in fresh water for 24 hours) at Traeth Crugan. This has continued with various tweaks to the methodology through research and discussion and evaluating the success rates. Now I concentrate on the big spring tides and planting on mass to maximise success, and on the last survey this year’s plantings had an encouraging 56% success rate. Inevitably I was talking to the Project Seagrass team a lot, and ended up helping with the seed planting (sacks, seed balls and injection), monitoring, and have just completed the circle by snorkelling at Porthdinllaen for seagrass seeds! What part of this restoration work are you most proud of? I’m most proud of all the other volunteers I meet over the course of the year. Their enthusiasm is both inspiring and heartwarming. The Seagrass Ocean Rescue Project is managed by WWF, in partnership with Project Seagrass, the North Wales Wildlife Trust, Pen Llŷn a’r Sarnau Special Area of Conservation (SAC) and Swansea University. The project is made possible with support from funders that include the National Lottery Heritage Fund, Garfield Weston Foundation, and the Moondance Foundation. Principal Funders Partners
Restoration Forth aims to restore seagrass meadows and native oysters into the Firth of Forth, to create a healthier coastline for people and nature. Find out more about the project here. Seagrass – the outcome of monitoring Back in March, 128 volunteers helped Restoration Forth plant more seagrass seeds along the Firth of Forth. The team and volunteers have been keeping a close eye on their growth. A HUGE thank you to all the passionate and dedicated volunteers for your time! Although we don’t have the full picture yet, fewer shoots have emerged than we hoped, so we are working to understand why. We know the nature of restoration projects can be challenging, but what we’ve learned through this process has been incredibly helpful. We’ve also been trialling the transplantation of dwarf eelgrass cores – by transplanting cores (seagrass with the sediment) from established meadows to adjacent bare sediment. With this method we are hoping to extend the current seagrass area in the Firth of Forth. This year we have transplanted 400 cores, and last year we have transplanted 480 cores. This method seems to be working well, and we’ll be monitoring them more closely in coming months. Keep your fingers and toes crossed! Oysters We recently launched our new citizen science resource and are running some training events in our oyster citizen science activities in the coming weeks, including some family friendly sessions aimed at getting young people involved in citizen science. You can find the activities and all the information on how to take part on the webpage here under ‘Help Restore the Firth of Forth’. As we start to near the end of summer it is time to think about our next oyster deployments. We aim to release a further 10,000 oysters into the Firth of Forth in Autumn, so keep an ear out for opportunities to be involved in our biosecurity days soon.
196 of the world’s nations are committed under the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework to tackling nature loss. Habitat restoration is a major pathway to tackling this loss. For marine habitats such as seagrass, such restoration is often portrayed as an easy answer to fighting many of our planetary ills causing this nature loss. But as evidence grows of the issues and challenges of such activities, scientists from Project Seagrass and Swansea University have outlined ten golden rules to help improve this restoration. Their work is published today in an Open Access article in the journal Plants People Planet. The article responds to the increasing pressures faced by seagrass ecosystems globally and the need to rapidly rebuild marine life. The authors highlight throughout that in order to restore our ocean biodiversity, we first need to focus on reducing the stressors to these habitats, namely water quality, boating and coastal development. The authors who have been studying seagrass conservation and restoration argue for a shift beyond a singularised view of restoration as being about planting new meadows to a combined view where damaged and fragmented meadows are rejuvenated; threatened and diminishing meadows are protected; and more meadows become resilient. The rules confirm the need for collaborative approaches to restoration which create biodiverse ecosystems that support coastal communities and improve communities. Dr Richard Unsworth, lead author on the paper who is the Chief Scientific Officer at Project Seagrass and Associate Professor at Swansea University said, “To rebuild marine life at the scale and speed required to fight the biodiversity crisis and the climate emergency we need to think bigger, whereby we bring degraded habitats back to life at the same time as creating vast new habitat in support of coastal livelihoods, and community resilience” The paper has been published following the International Seagrass Biology Workshop (ISBW15) hosted in Naples, Italy earlier this year, the theme of this which was “Seagrasses in the Anthropocene”. As human activities place ever-increasing pressure on seagrass ecosystems at both a local and global scale the resulting changes in environmental conditions have altered seagrass ecosystems to an extent that has not previously been observed. The challenge currently facing the global community is the need to establish a new baseline and protect, restore, and rehabilitate the seagrass ecosystems that currently remain. Dr Benjamin Jones, Chief Conservation Officer at Project Seagrass and author of the paper says: “Coastal environments suffer from excess nutrients and contaminants from poor land management, deforestation and ineffective pollution management. If we are to place seagrass on a pathway to global net gain, for restoration to have any meaningful contribution, we also need to think about restoring watersheds and thinking upstream – restoring the land to restore the sea”. The ten golden rules originally developed by Unsworth and Jones for seagrass restoration, and outlined below, aim to ensure that existing seagrass is protected, that multiple and diverse stakeholders are involved in planning to support the selection of appropriate sites and ongoing stewardship, that appropriate restoration methods are utilized, and that realism is adopted in the face of the challenges surrounding global restoration efforts particularly in light of ongoing climatic pressure. Dr Leanne Cullen-Unsworth, CEO at Project Seagrass and an author of the paper says: “Fantastic progress is being made in the field of conservation and restoration of seagrass meadows, but in order for this to happen at the scale and speed required, we wanted to set out a series of holistic guidelines, based on available research and experience, that practitioners can follow for improved chances of success.” 10 Golden Rules for restoration to secure resilient and just seagrass social-ecological systems (set out in detail below) Protect existing seagrass first Work together Create biodiverse ecosystems with multiple functions for people and planet Select appropriate sites for restoration Determine appropriate restoration methods Use resilient plant materials and future proof your project Maximize the potential opportunity of the restoration Plan ahead for infrastructure, capacity, and restoration material Develop realistic informed goals and reporting Make it pay 10 Golden Rules (Detailed summary of the paper) 1. Protect existing seagrass first Amidst the context of growing interest in seagrass restoration, the authors emphasize that it is much slower, more difficult, and more expensive to re-plant seagrass meadows than it is to protect those that currently remain. Protection from localized stressors can relieve pressure on our existing seagrass be this through the implementation of improved water quality from better catchment management, reduced boating damage, establishment of Marine Protected Areas or through the encouragement of alternative low-impact livelihoods, tourism, and fishing practices. The authors also outline the need to prioritise which seagrass meadows to protect taking into consideration predicted future climatic conditions such as changing temperatures, sea level rise, land use change, and the gradual topicalization of temperate systems. 2. Work together Restoration is a collaborative process and the authors discuss the importance of the involvement of multiple and diverse stakeholders, expertise, and experience throughout all stages of the restoration process. Seagrass social-ecological systems support diverse uses and livelihoods, from fishing and recreation, to harvesting of raw plant material. Rights and equality are central, and stakeholders should be encouraged to continue activities, not just undisturbed, but enhanced by increased seagrass resilience. Engaging local communities and stakeholders during the site selection period is essential as these groups will often become the long-term custodians of the restoration site. Without working together, long-term seagrass restoration at scale is simply not possible and finding ways to bring people together to co-design restoration projects will enhance the social capital of resulting habitats. 3. Create biodiverse ecosystems with multiple functions for people and planet The overarching aim of seagrass restoration should be to maximise the biomass and biodiversity of meadows such that they support diverse and resilient ecosystem functioning and services for people and planet. The authors discuss how natural systems simultaneously produce multiple ecosystem services that interrelate in complex and dynamic ways. An overly narrow focus on a limited set of ecosystem services can lead to
Seagrass Network Cymru have submitted a National Seagrass Action Plan to the Senedd. Seagrass meadows are critically important allies to tackle the global climate and biodiversity crises and the National Seagrass Action Plan is a direct response to the current condition of seagrass habitat in Wales and the need for a coordinated approach to deliver against current policy commitments. Wales has the opportunity to lead the way in seagrass recovery and the plan presents a blueprint of action over the next five years to achieve a vision where Welsh seagrass meadows are supporting marine biodiversity, vibrant communities, a sustainable economy and making a valuable contribution to the climate emergency response. The 4 priority areas of action needed to achieve this vision are: Mapping Wales’ seagrass Building partnerships across land and sea Halting seagrass loss Reversing seagrass loss Read the full plan here. Seagrass Network Cymru is a collaborative group of NGO’s, academics, commercial businesses, government, and management agencies from across Wales working towards the protection and restoration of seagrass meadows along our Welsh coast.
On the 9th and 10th of July Project Seagrass welcomed local organisations and members of the community to our Seagrass Nursery in West Wales as part of a series of Open Days. On the 9th July representatives from Pembrokeshire Council, Carmarthenshire Council, Pembrokeshire Coastal Forum, Rebel Energy, SeaLife, Bodorgan Estate, South & West Wales Wildlife Trust, Swansea University, Carmarthenshire Local Nature Partnership, Sea Trust, and Welsh Government visited the Nursery as part of a networking day. Working collaboratively is essential to long-term success of seagrass restoration and the networking day provided an opportunity for local stakeholders to discuss existing work and opportunities to collaborate. On the 10th July the Seagrass Nursery opened its doors to members of the local community with visitors from Laugharne, Pendine, and St Clears alongside the wider Carmarthenshire area. “Excellent and exciting project – would be interested in its development” Community Feedback “Beneficial to learn more about the advantages to the environment” Community Feedback During the Open Days, visitors had the opportunity to join a guided tour of the Seagrass Nursery where members of the nursery team provided an insight into how we are growing seagrass, our approach to storing seeds, and the research we are undertaking into the best methods for seagrass cultivation. “It was lovely being able to welcome members of the local community and organisations down to our nursery site. The days were a great opportunity to showcase not only our work at the nursery but wider projects from across South and West Wales. Collaboration is key in so much of our work, being able to network with groups while welcoming the local community and harness local knowledge was invaluable.” Emily Yates, Nursery Lead Our South & West Wales project lead Emma Fox provided a talk about our existing work in West Wales including our ongoing monitoring and conservation work in Dale. Emma also shared our upcoming plans to trial further seagrass restoration within the area. Dr Betti Walter, Marine Science Lead and Sam Rees our Research Assistant discussed our work to scale up the seagrass restoration process, providing visitors with an insight into the range of mechanisation projects that we have been exploring from seed planting sleds to underwater robots. Our Seagrass Nursery partner Salix joined us for the open days to discuss the work taking place on the wider site in Laugharne and their work to provide sustainable solutions to the challenges found in soil erosion control and river restoration projects. The work at our Seagrass Nursery is generously supported by Salix, Waterloo Foundation, Aviva Community Fund, and Ozone. Our Volunteer and Outreach Officer Jo was on hand to discuss opportunities to support our restoration work. It was fantastic to see so many people keen to support future seagrass planting and monitoring projects. If you would like to get involved, sign up to join our Volunteer Database.
Seagrass meadows provide a range of environmental, economic, and social benefits to people and planet. They provide habitat, food, and shelter to thousands of species of fish, invertebrates, mammals, reptiles, and birds. Through their diverse use as fishing grounds, they support the creation of jobs and provide access to food sources like fish and invertebrates. Their leaves help to purify water, reducing pollutants like heavy metals and harmful bacteria. Seagrass meadows trap carbon within the seabed and, if left undisturbed, can store this for millennia. Their large and deep network of roots extend throughout the seabed helping to stabilise our coastlines. Seagrass Information Posters As part of a recent project, Project Seagrass has been working with Languages United and Green Standard Schools on the creation of multi-lingual seagrass information posters providing an insight into seagrass. The seagrass information posters are free to download from the Project Seagrass website and are available in the following languages: English, French, Spanish, German, Croatian, Greek, Italian, and Polish. The poster design was created by illustrator and science communicator Jack Cowley. The following Green Standard Schools supporting members were involved in the translation of the posters: French In Normandy, CLIC International House Sevilla, Humboldt-Institut, Scuola Leonardo da Vinci Milano, Κέντρο Ξένων Γλωσσών Βαρελά and Škola Jantar. Partners WHY SEAGRASS Discover why it is vital we save the world’s seagrass Explore More
Restoration Forth aims to restore seagrass meadows and native oysters into the Firth of Forth, to create a healthier coastline for people and nature. Find out more about the project here. Orkney seagrass trip Next month the seagrass team will be departing for their annual seed collection trip in Orkney. Following a productive planting season in March 2024, the team will be returning to Kirkwall to collect Zostera marina seeds that will be planted in March 2025. Restoration Forth employs a non-destructive method for collecting seagrass seeds, shoots are hand-picked by snorkellers and divers through a selective process to ensure donor meadows are not over picked. This year, Project Seagrass are working with Heriot-Watt University and local scallop divers to collect seeds from subtidal seagrass meadows. Prior to seed harvesting, the team conduct extensive surveys of the donor meadows to ensure that the harvesting of seeds will not cause a significant effect to the health or size of the meadows. The deployment of a dive team will increase the yield of seeds collected this year, by accessing subtidal parts of the meadow which are not usually accessible through snorkelling. Join us for snorkelling sessions at Finstown! Restoration Forth are organising seagrass snorkel sessions this July and August to showcase the rich diversity of marine life that live in these amazing habitats and to demonstrate how we collect seagrass seeds. Further details can be found here. Photo credit: Raymond Besant Photo credit: Raymond Besant Oyster Citizen Science We are very excited to announce that the new oyster citizen science activity booklet is now live! Our new booklet contains activities for everyone around the Firth of Forth to get involved in contributing to oyster restoration. You can find the activities and all the information on how to take part on the webpage here under ‘Help Restore the Firth of Forth’. The Restoration Forth team, with the help of volunteers, will be beach hopping around East Lothian, Edinburgh and Fife with the activity booklet next week. Please do pop by and say hello! We will be at Port Seton Links and Fisherrow Sands, Musselburgh, on Friday 28th June and Cramond Beach and Silver Sands, Aberdour, on Saturday 29th. Timings and more information about the events can be found here. Oyster Observer Guide Update Thank you so much to those of you who have completed and submitted an Oyster Observer Guide survey. This information will help inform which sites will be most suitable for oyster restoration work. We so far have surveys from the following locations: Fife: Kingsbarns, Ravenscraig Edinburgh: Cramond East Lothian: Seton Beach, Yellowcraig, Morrisons Haven, Belhaven Bay, Longniddry (Bents 1, 2 and 3) Fisherrow Sands and Musselburgh beach. If you have completed a survey but are still to submit your results, you can do so here. Likewise, if you would like to get involved, the Oyster Observer Guide and instructions on how to take part can be found here. Photo credit: Caitlin Godfrey Climate Resilience survey WWF want to learn more about the climate resilience impacts of their projects. They are running this very short survey to find out more about the impact Restoration Forth has had on you, and your thoughts about local community and climate resilience. It should only take about 5 minutes to complete, and you will be entered into a prize draw to win a £50 Scotland Loves Local gift card. Click here to start the survey (closes on the 8th July 2024). Goodbye 100 species The inspiring 100 Species exhibition project is now finished, after having been displayed at Heart of Newhaven to the Scottish Seabird Centre and, finally, the Scottish Fisheries Museum in Anstruther. Edinburgh Shoreline held a little thank-you party in the Anstruther Museum for all the Fife contributors on 7th June. During this the winning paintings from a local schools art competition, organised by the Museum and inspired by the 100 species exhibition, were displayed. A total of 480 children participated and, through their engagement, learned all about Restoration Forth, oysters and seagrass. The Newhaven Community Choir performed, included one song specially written as a homage to Restoration Forth. Look out for videos on the Edinburgh Shoreline YouTube channel – uploading soon. In Anstruther there were 2,070 visitors to the exhibition at the Museum. We are really pleased about the interest this project has raised – through the researching and making of responses to individual species and the huge interest generated through exhibiting them around the Forth. Several of our contributors have already engaged with or signed up for future oyster cleaning events, started regular beach events and expressed interest in future citizen science opportunities. Photo credit Karen Chambers.
This Pride Month we’re celebrating our work with Pride Cymru. Thanks to support from Catalyst Cymru, Pride Cymru volunteers supported fieldwork to plant seagrass seeds as part of our programme of restoration work in North Wales. The planting took place earlier this year in Hafan y Môr, Pwllheli. An introduction to Project Seagrass was delivered by our Volunteer and Outreach Coordinator Jo followed by an introduction to members of the team. The group were briefed on how to plant seagrass seeds using the DIS (Dispenser Injection System) planting method and were also shown how to use GPS Navigation Devices and a Bathyscope. As a result of the activity which included Pride Cymru Volunteers, around 350,000 seagrass seeds were planted. Each volunteer involved dispensed around 1600 seeds. The plots will be monitored to assess germination rates over the lifetime of the wider project. Through the project Project Seagrass had the opportunity to engage new volunteers who now have a basic knowledge of seagrass systems and the work that we do. The volunteers can share their experience and recommend this activity to others based on direct experience. Sign up to volunteer with Project Seagrass here. This work was made possible thanks to the support from the Catalyst Cymru Community Grant Scheme, funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund, administered by WCVA.
Between the 17th and 21st June 2024, over 500 scientists, conservation professionals, and managers will converge in Naples, Italy for the 15th International Seagrass Biology Workshop (ISBW15). It will be two years since the last meeting in Annapolis, USA. The theme of ISBW15 is “Seagrasses in the Anthropocene”, centred around the fact that human activities are placing ever-increasing pressure on seagrass ecosystems at both a local and global scale. As a result of ongoing changes in environmental conditions, seagrass ecosystems have altered to an extent that has not previously been observed. The challenge currently facing the global community is the need to establish a new baseline and protect, restore, and rehabilitate the seagrass ecosystems that currently remain. Workshops Ben, Leanne and Lucy will be hosting a session on “Securing resilient and just seagrass social-ecological systems” which explores how we can manage and conserve seagrass meadows for both people and planet, with a view to showcasing how humans are an integral part of seagrass systems, shaping ecological dynamics both positively and negatively, that we can no longer ignore. Ben will also be co-hosting a workshop on the final day of the conference focused on Hypervolume modelling – a multivariate tool for seagrass ecosystem assessments. During the workshop, Ben and his colleagues will present multiple case studies using hypervolumes in seagrass ecosystems, followed by a walkthrough of the data and R code used to conduct the hypervolume analyses. Talks The Project Seagrass team will be delivering a number of talks throughout the week of the conference. Esther will discuss the threats that seagrass ecosystems across the British Isles are currently experiencing as a result of poor water quality. Within the context of an increased interest in seagrass restoration, the talk will emphasise the need to understand current threats including water quality, coastal development, and poor land use in order to conserve existing seagrass ecosystems, many of which are approaching their ecological tipping point. Ben will deliver a talk on the importance of capacity building to reduce parachute science and to fill gaps in existing knowledge of seagrass. Ben will present an approach developed through the IKI Seagrass Ecosystem Services project which sought to deliver site-specific assessments of seagrass health, and to evaluate the ecosystem services seagrass provides. As part of this project a group of six local NGOs and community groups at project sites (Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Philippines and Timor-Leste) were empowered to assess seagrass with the provision of technical tools and capacity building. In her talk, Anouska will assess the role of temperate seagrass meadows (Z. Marina) in supporting fisheries and quantifying its commercial value using a Seagrass Residency Index (SRI) method. Using case study data from 7 UK seagrass meadow sites the research presents a contemporary picture of the economic value of seagrass meadows. Emma’s talk will present data from a trans-national study (Scotland, England, France, and the Netherlands) which investigated planting density and configuration in Z. noltii restoration work using core transplantation. Going forwards, the partnership will continue to assess the site-specific differences and explore effective restoration methods for Z. nolti Richard will present a talk on the interrelationship between seagrass ecosystem services. Posters Alongside the workshops and talks, members of the team will be presenting posters at the conference. Lucy’s poster will highlight the high variability in seagrass restoration success, exploring lessons learned and how learning from setbacks and successes can inform future restoration. Emily will present data from a number of separate trials examining the use of a range of substrates and additions, such as nutrients, to determine the most effective methods of growing seagrass in artificial environments. To find out more about the conference visit the International Seagrass Biology Workshop website.
The theme of the 2024 World Ocean Day is catalyzing action for our ocean and climate. This recognises the fact that the health of the marine environment, including our globally declining seagrass meadows, requires significantly stronger local, national, and international action from both government and corporate leaders. In this article we consider collaborative approaches available to Governments to fulfill their responsibilities to seagrass conservation in light of recent commitments made at the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS). Multi-sector partnerships for seagrass conservation In February 2024, parties at the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS) COP14 in Uzbekistan passed a resolution that recognises the role that seagrasses play in supporting migratory species. This is the first time that seagrass’ important role for migratory species has been recogised within a global context with the resolution requiring signatory states to report on their progress towards seagrass-related biodiversity goals. The resolution presents a significant opportunity for signatory states and one which will require a collaborative and cross-sector approach given the requirement for governments to report on the location of seagrass meadows, the migratory species utilising them, and the threats facing these important habitats. The scale of this work will require significant investment which working in isolation is likely to render unachievable financially. Governments could instead opt for the creation of multi-sector strategic partnerships in deliver their reporting requirements and leverage sufficient funding towards this work. One approach available to Governments could be to develop strategic partnerships with NGOs and scientific institutions to develop ecosystem service credits or other new financing systems. These marine credits could subsequently be sold as offsets to corporations or governments whose activities are having a detrimental impact on our marine environment which would in turn fund the work required to reverse this damage. However, the effectiveness of any credit system would rely upon its responsible implementation and strong regulation. Seagrass meadow ecosystems play host to complex interactions between local communities and nature (social-ecological systems). Conservation finance solutions must therefore benefit these communities directly rather than channeling funding to businesses or third parties. Dugong feeding on seagrass, Great Fringing Reef, Red Sea Photo Credit: Anett Szaszi, Ocean Image Bank Dunlin (Calidris alpina) Credit: Emma ButterworthPhoto Credit: Emma Butterworth Brent Geese (Branta bernicla) Photo Credit: Charles Bagshaw The need for effective seagrass mapping to inform approaches One of the major challenges facing seagrass conservation and restoration is the availability of seagrass maps upon which the successful implementation of approaches such as ecosystem service credits will depend. Progress and developments continue to be made with mapping methods including satellite remote sensing and underwater vehicles however the current picture remains far from complete. Utilising the local knowledge of indigenous people, citizen scientists, and researchers to build on existing data and create reliable maps will be essential to working towards the resolution’s mapping goals. Working in partnership will enable COP14 signatory states to make steps towards global net gain for seagrass. You can read more here.
