Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to monitor, understand and analyse saltmarsh habitats, including the risks to present emissions and wider ecosystem value.

Nature-based solutions, including blue carbon habitats such as saltmarshes, have an important role to play in preventing biodiversity loss and supporting adaptation and resilience to climate change, alongside their carbon sequestration benefits. Through the UK Blue Carbon Evidence Partnership, Defra is working with the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and the other UK Administrations to address key research questions relating to blue carbon.

In April 2022, HM Government launched its £140 million Natural Capital and Ecosystem Assessment programme, a flagship three-year R&D programme, spanning England’s land, coast and sea. The programme includes mapping of blue carbon stock and sequestration rates in important coastal environments such as saltmarsh habitats, alongside wider ecosystem services which provide societal, ecological and economic benefit. This work will be used to inform marine planning and development decisions.

In the programme’s proof-of-concept year, the Environment Agency (alongside its ongoing role monitoring saltmarsh extent and change), mapped areas within saltmarshes with different capacities to capture and store carbon, bringing the national saltmarsh zonation map up to 96.5% coverage of England’s total saltmarsh habitat.

In addition, Natural England monitors, and assesses the condition of, saltmarsh within sites of special scientific interest.

We are also improving understanding of the impact of climate change on marine and coastal ecosystems. The Marine Climate Change Impacts Partnership (MCCIP) synthesises the latest research and evidence on climate change impacts and predicted trends affecting those ecosystems. Established in 2005, MCCIP engages with a wide range of scientific authors and reviewers to produce updates on the evidence base.