As well as showing how the ocean can help prevent climate change, the Blue Climate unit supports Blue Marine’s wider conservation and restoration work by delivering targeted evidence to inform political change. We use Blue Marine’s projects to develop templates of best practice for communities and biodiversity, and campaign to raise the profile of the ocean as a climate-change solution at events such as the annual UN COPs.
At COP30 in 2025, held in Belém, Brazil, Blue Climate launched the 2030 Saltmarsh Breakthrough alongside our partners WWF, UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, the UN Climate Champions and the Marrakesh Partnership for Global Climate Action.
The Saltmarsh Breakthrough is a global call to turn the tide on conserving and restoring these vital ecosystems by scaling actions and investments. It built on the launch earlier in the year of the first ‘State of the World’s Saltmarshes’ report alongside Salt of the Earth at the UN Ocean Conference in Nice.
We have also been working to promote the importance of climate-smart MPAs, publishing a report building these concepts into our international projects work. They are essential for effective ocean protection, enhancing the 30×30 target and maximising climate mitigation and adaptation benefits.
In addition, Blue Climate is supporting the University of St Andrews on a carbon modelling study to assess bottom trawling’s impact on sediment carbon. This work is highly complementary to the Convex Seascape Survey and our political work addressing bottom-trawling in MPAs across the UK.
We have continued to work with local NGOs in the Philippines and Indonesia to support the restoration of 20 hectares of abandoned aquaculture ponds to healthy mangrove forest. These projects aim to empower local communities with regenerative alternative livelihood opportunities, recover biodiversity and fish nursery habitat while increasing blue carbon sequestration and enhancing coastal resilience.
