As we learned in a recent UN report, protection of seagrasses is key to building resilience to climate change. Seagrass meadows are among the most common coastal habitats on Earth. They provide a number of critical services to coastal communities that include: nurturing fish populations; weakening storm surges; filtering pathogens and pollution out of seawater; and capturing and storing huge volumes of carbon. But threats to seagrass and a lack of policy and protection have caused the loss of 29% of seagrass coverage worldwide in the last 100 years.
We learned about a new Seagrass Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) guide that explores how community groups can use PES to fund and facilitate seagrass conservation projects. Seagrass experts, Robyn Shilland and Mark Huxham, provided best-practice guidance on planning, funding, and facilitating a community carbon-based PES project. Anne Wanjiru, Social Impact Officer for Kenya Marine and Fisheries Research Institute, showed what this work looks like on the ground through Mikoko Pamoja, a community-led mangrove and seagrass conservation and restoration project based in southern Kenya.
Resources:
- Reef Resilience Network seagrass resources
- Protecting Seagrass Through Payments for Ecosystem Services: A Community Guide (English, French, and Spanish)
- Out of the Blue: The Value of Seagrasses to the Environment and to People
- Association for Coastal Ecosystem Services
- Mikoko Pamoja
