- Momentum builds around the Global Seagrass Challenge Fund as growing public interest and rising urgency position investment in seagrass conservation as one of the decade’s most important solutions for our planet.
- Investment will facilitate a step-change in global seagrass conservation via new fund designed to put resources directly into the hands of communities and practitioners protecting and restoring seagrass around the world.
Following its launch on World Seagrass Day, momentum is building behind the Global Seagrass Challenge Fund, an ambitious new fund set to transform seagrass conservation globally.
Established by the World’s leading seagrass conservation organisation Project Seagrass, the fund will support long-term, locally led conservation efforts across regions with seagrass meadows of global significance for health and well-being, food security, and resilience.
Seagrass meadows are among the planet’s most widespread and important ecosystems, yet they remain one of the least widely known. They support marine biodiversity, underpin food security for millions of people, and can capture and, if left undisturbed, store carbon for millennia. Yet, they are disappearing globally at an alarming rate due to pollution, coastal development, destructive marine activity, and climate change.
Created in response to six urgent global challenges threatening seagrass ecosystems worldwide, the Global Seagrass Challenge Fund provides funders, businesses, and individuals with a unique opportunity to invest in solutions to reverse the trajectory of seagrass loss by supporting the people and organisations already protecting these ecosystems on the ground.
Anna Heath, Senior Programmes Manager at Synchronicity Earth, one of the Global Seagrass Challenge Fund supporters, said: “The particular value of this fund is that it has been co-designed with local people, focusing on their real needs and priorities. Crucially, it has also been specifically built so that funding and technical support are simple and easy to access, putting resources in the hands of local organisations to drive impact.”
Since the Fund’s launch, continued conversations with partners have emphasised the pressing need for investment in global community-led conservation with the first call for applications to the Fund anticipated to be released in 2027.
Project Seagrass’ Chief Conservation Officer, Dr Benjamin Jones said: “The Global Seagrass Challenge Fund exists because ambition alone does not conserve seagrass, protect livelihoods, or shift power. People need the resources, confidence, networks, and support to act. The opportunity is huge. We can unlock seagrass action in places where people have the ideas, the knowledge and the motivation, but not always the funding or institutional access. Success will depend on trust, patience, and a willingness to listen to people who are often not in the room when decisions are made.”
As countries continue to develop strategies around climate adaptation, biodiversity protection, and sustainable coastal development, Project Seagrass is calling on funders, businesses, and the public to invest in the Global Seagrass Challenge Fund and catalyse a step-change in global seagrass conservation by 2030 and beyond.
Be part of the solution.
The Global Seagrass Challenge Fund is seeking investment. To be part of this global response donate today or contact globalchallenge@projectseagrass.org to discuss how you can shape the future of global seagrass conversation.