World Seagrass Day

Seagrasses, distinct from seaweeds, are flowering plants that form vibrant underwater meadows. Filtering pollutants, cycling nutrients, sequestering carbon and providing habitat for a rich diversity of marine life, they help maintain the health of coastal seas. In the shallow waters off Johor Bahru’s rapidly urbanizing shoreline in Peninsular Malaysia, a busy assemblage of crabs, marine worms and mollusks are a sign of recovery. Just over a decade ago, the wafting seagrass meadow they now inhabit had been laid waste by development. In 2014, dredgers working on a massive land reclamation project to build a “Forest City” at the tip of the peninsula had dispersed plumes of sediment across the Merambong Shoal, one of Malaysia’s most extensive seagrass beds . While the Department of Environment recognized the harm and issued a stop-work order later that year, the damage was done: Roughly 10 hectares (25 acres) of seagrass meadow had been destroyed. To try to rectify the situation, the d...

On March 1st 2026, World Seagrass Day , highlights the importance of marine flowering plants which cover an estimated 0.1% of the ocean floor. Despite their limited spatial extent, seagrass meadows support thousands of marine species, including fish, seahorses, and turtles, by providing food and shelter. Seagrass ecosystems also function as highly efficient carbon sinks and stores. One area where these ecosystems play a particularly important role is the Tañon Strait in the Philippines. Located between Negros Island and Cebu Island, this marine corridor is designated as the Tañon Strait Protected Seascape. It hosts extensive seagrass meadows, coral reefs, and mangroves, forming one of the country’s most important marine ecosystems. This image, acquired on 18 January 2025 by one of the Copernicus Sentinel-2 satellites, shows the southern section of Tañon Strait . Shallow waters appear in turquoise tones, deeper waters in dark blue, and vegetation on the surrounding islands in bright gr...

 Indonesia’s seagrass ecosystems are crucial for climate action, biodiversity and coastal livelihoods, yet remain a largely neglected asset, marine scientists and conservation experts said at a recent meeting. Participants at the Indonesian Seagrass Symposium, which ran from Oct. 29-30 on the island of Bali, called for stronger collaboration and data-driven policies to secure the future of these ecosystems in Indonesia’s environmental agenda. They said scientific data gaps, weak institutional capacity and low public awareness were key barriers to stronger protection and policy integration. “I see seagrass as a kind of forgotten ecosystem,” Victor Nikijuluw, senior ocean program adviser at the foundation Konservasi Indonesia (KI), the national affiliate of Conservation International and host of the symposium, told reporters. “We barely pay attention to it, even though its ecological, biological and ecosystem service roles are strategically important.”  In Indonesia, Victor a...

This event will serve as the official launch of the Initiative, bridging the announcement at UNOC-3 and planned events at COP30 in Brazil, as an important step in fostering a global partnership around seaweed, strengthening policy coordination, coordinating scientific efforts, strengthening technical capacity, and advocating for the seaweed sector and financing its sustainable development. Related Documents:  Event Page . Watch the launch of the United Nations Global Seaweed Initiative (UNGSI)! Meetings & Events

Despite a general global trend of seagrass loss , some areas have shown abating declines or substantial recovery of seagrasses. These recoveries can often be attributed to human interventions reducing the effect of human-caused stressors . Seagrasses are critical for life underwater , but also provide wide-ranging benefits to people on land. Raising awareness about their importance for community well-being, whether through food security from fish production, improved quality of water filtered by seagrasses, protection of coasts from erosion, storms and floods, or carbon sequestration and storage will drive efforts around the world to conserve, better manage and restore these ecosystems. Ultimately, the protection and restoration of seagrass meadows will help countries achieve multiple economic, societal and nutritional objectives, aligning with and supported by policies implemented at the national, regional or global levels . For example:The benefits from conserving and restoring sea...

Despite Seagrasses important contribution to sustainable development and climate change mitigation and adaptation , this core component of marine biodiversity is in danger and only about a quarter of all meadows fall within marine protected areas . Seagrasses have been declining globally since the 1930s, with the most recent census estimating that 7% of this key marine habitat is being lost worldwide per year. It was recently noted that 21% of seagrass species are categorized as Near Threatened, Vulnerable and Endangered Species under the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List of Threatened Species . The combined pressures of coastal development , pollution , including land-based run-off , climate change , dredging and unregulated fishing and boating activities are key drivers of the degradation of seagrasses and their associated ecosystems.