Seagrass
Across the globe, there are more than 70 species of seagrass, growing in shallow and sheltered
coastal areas. It grows in the vast underwater meadows of 159 countries on six continents, covering
300,000 square kilometres (115,000 square miles).
Now, that may be an area the size of Italy, but it's barely 0.2% of the seafloor. And this is where
the super seagrass comes into its own because it absorbs 10% of the ocean's carbon each year and
captures carbon up to 35 times faster than tropical rainforests.
Seagrass builds its leaves and roots using carbon, which it extracts from water through the process
of photosynthesis -and it holds on to it, even after death. Dead plant material decomposes slowly
on the ocean floor, and this means that the carbon stored within is eventually buried under the
seabed.
It's ironic that such an effective natural solution to climate change is itself under threat from
climate change, as temperatures rise and more violent storms ravage seagrass beds. Pollution, the
long-term development of coastlines, and unregulated fishing have all played additional roles in
its decline.
According to the U.N. Environment Programme (UNEP), a seagrass area the size of a football pitch
is destroyed every 30 minutes, around the world.13 Globally, it is declining at a rate of about
7% a year -and the UK has lost over 90 per cent of its seagrass in the last century.