Seagrass meadows sit at the intersection of global climate, biodiversity and sustainable development agendas. Their conservation and restoration can maintain carbon stocks, support biodiversity and fisheries, strengthen coastal resilience and sustain livelihoods. UNEP estimates that the benefits of conserving and restoring seagrass can contribute to 26 targets and indicators across 10 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).¹  

Paris Agreement and UNFCCC 

Seagrass is relevant to both climate mitigation and adaptation. The 2013 IPCC Wetlands Supplement explicitly includes seagrass meadows within coastal wetlands and provides methodologies for estimating anthropogenic greenhouse-gas emissions and removals associated with their management.²  The 2019 Refinement updates, supplements and elaborates the 2006 IPCC Guidelines, and, where relevant, is used in conjunction  with the Wetlands Supplement.³  

This provides a methodological basis for countries to incorporate managed seagrass ecosystems into national greenhouse-gas inventories where adequate data are available. Seagrass can also be incorporated into Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) through mitigation and adaptation measures, although the extent to which coastal blue-carbon ecosystems are reflected in national climate policy and greenhouse-gas accounting varies considerably among countries.^4,5  

For policy-makers, the opportunity is therefore to move from general recognition of blue carbon towards measurable national action: improving data on seagrass extent and condition; incorporating relevant emissions and removals into national inventories where feasible; and linking seagrass conservation and restoration to NDCs, adaptation planning and monitoring systems. Beyond carbon, healthy meadows can support ecosystem-based adaptation through sediment stabilization, coastal protection, fisheries support and increased resilience.¹  

Kunming–Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework 

Seagrass falls within the coastal and marine ecosystems addressed by the Kunming–Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KMGBF). Target 1 promotes biodiversity-inclusive spatial planning; Target 2 calls for at least 30% of areas of degraded coastal and marine ecosystems to be under effective restoration by 2030; and Target 3 calls for at least 30% of coastal and marine areas to be effectively conserved and managed by 2030.⁶  

Seagrass conservation and restoration can therefore contribute directly to national implementation of these targets. The KMGBF also places emphasis on ecosystem functions and services, ecological integrity and connectivity, meaning that implementation should consider not only how much seagrass remains, but also its condition and ecological function.^6,7  

Protecting and restoring seagrass can simultaneously conserve biodiversity, maintain carbon stores and strengthen resilience, creating synergies between implementation of the KMGBF and climate commitments.⁷  

Sustainable Development Goals 

Seagrass contributes most directly to SDG 14 (Life Below Water), particularly Target 14.2 on sustainably managing, protecting and restoring marine and coastal ecosystems and Target 14.4 on sustainable fisheries.⁸ Seagrass meadows provide valuable nursery habitat to more than one fifth of the world’s 25 largest fisheries.¹  

Their carbon-storage, coastal-protection and resilience functions also support SDG 13 (Climate Action), particularly Target 13.1 on strengthening resilience and adaptive capacity and Target 13.2 on integrating climate measures into national policies and planning.⁸ Seagrass-associated fisheries, gleaning and other coastal livelihoods create additional links with SDG 1 (No Poverty), SDG 2 (Zero Hunger) and SDG 5 (Gender Equality).¹ Evidence from small-scale coastal fisheries also demonstrates the particular importance that gleaning can have for women’s income and household food security.⁹ 

These connections underline that seagrass is not only an environmental asset but also social and economic infrastructure. Management should therefore consider who uses these ecosystems, who benefits from them and how conservation measures affect different livelihood groups. 

Blue carbon finance and markets 

Seagrass conservation can access finance through public climate and biodiversity funding, development and concessional finance, ecosystem-based adaptation programmes and, in some circumstances, carbon markets. Finance need not be explicitly labelled “blue carbon”: investments in coastal management, habitat protection and restoration can generate climate benefits alongside biodiversity and livelihood outcomes.⁵ 

Carbon market finance for blue-carbon ecosystems is growing but remains limited in scale and heavily concentrated in mangrove projects. A global assessment identified 81 blue-carbon projects covering approximately 2 million hectares, collectively generating estimated annual emission reductions of 20.4 MtCO₂e.¹⁰ Of these, 74 involved mangroves compared with only four involving seagrass meadows. The comparatively limited number of seagrass projects reflects, among other factors, technical challenges associated with carbon accounting, monitoring and demonstrating credible climate benefits.^5,10 

For seagrass, finance is therefore often strongest when designed around multiple benefits rather than carbon alone. Combining mitigation with biodiversity conservation, adaptation, fisheries and livelihood outcomes can broaden the case for investment while reducing reliance on carbon-credit revenues. 

From global commitments to national action 

Together, these frameworks provide multiple entry points for seagrass policy. The priority is to translate global commitments into nationally measurable and locally implementable action: establish reliable baselines for seagrass extent and condition; address drivers of degradation; integrate seagrass into NDCs, NBSAPs, marine spatial planning and adaptation strategies; protect intact meadows; restore degraded sites where recovery is ecologically feasible; and develop monitoring systems that capture ecological and social outcomes. 

Seagrass therefore provides a practical point of convergence between the climate, biodiversity and sustainable development agendas. Making these connections explicit in national policies, budgets and monitoring systems can help translate international commitments into coordinated action for seagrass ecosystems.

References 

1. United Nations Environment Programme (2020). Out of the Blue: The Value of Seagrasses to the Environment and to People. UNEP, Nairobi. ISBN 978-92-807-3780-6. https://wedocs.unep.org/handle/20.500.11822/32636.
2. IPCC (2014). 2013 Supplement to the 2006 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories: Wetlands. Hiraishi, T., Krug, T., Tanabe, K., Srivastava, N., Baasansuren, J., Fukuda, M. & Troxler, T.G. (eds.). Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Switzerland. https://www.ipcc.ch/site/assets/uploads/2018/03/Wetlands_Supplement_Entire_Report.pdf.
3. IPCC (2019). 2019 Refinement to the 2006 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories. Calvo Buendia, E., Tanabe, K., Kranjc, A. et al. (eds.). Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Switzerland. https://www.ipcc-nggip.iges.or.jp/public/2019rf/pdf/0_Overview/19R_V0_00_Cover_Foreword_Preface_Dedication.pdf.
4. Reise, J., Urrutia, C., von Vittorelli, L., Siemons, A. & Jennerjahn, T.C. (2024). Potential of Blue Carbon for Global Climate Change Mitigation. Climate Change 24/2024. German Environment Agency (Umweltbundesamt), Dessau-Roßlau. https://cris.leibniz-zmt.de/id/eprint/5458.
5. Vanderklift, M.A., Herr, D., Lovelock, C.E., Murdiyarso, D., Raw, J.L. & Steven, A.D.L. (2022). A guide to international climate mitigation policy and finance frameworks relevant to the protection and restoration of blue carbon ecosystems. Frontiers in Marine Science, 9, 872064. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2022.872064.
6. Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) (2022). Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. Decision 15/4, adopted by the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity, 19 December 2022, Montreal. CBD/COP/DEC/15/4. https://www.cbd.int/doc/decisions/cop-15/cop-15-dec-04-en.pdf.
7. Fu, C., Steckbauer, A., Mann, H. & Duarte, C.M. (2024). Achieving the Kunming–Montreal global biodiversity targets for blue carbon ecosystems. Nature Reviews Earth & Environment, 5, 538–552. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43017-024-00566-6.
8. United Nations (2015). Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. United Nations General Assembly Resolution A/RES/70/1, 25 September 2015. https://sdgs.un.org/2030agenda.
9. Harper, S., Adshade, M., Lam, V.W., Pauly, D., Sumaila, U.R. (2020). Valuing invisible catches: Estimating the global contribution by women to small-scale marine capture fisheries production. PloS One, 15, e0228912. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0228912.
10. Farahmand, S., Hilmi, N. & Duarte, C.M. (2025). The rise and flows of blue carbon credits advance global climate and biodiversity goals. npj Ocean Sustainability, 4, 39. https://doi.org/10.1038/s44183-025-00141-6.