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

To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have, if any, to expand seagrass and seaweed marine protected sites to contribute to the UK’s net zero carbon target.

The UK recognises the important role that nature-based solutions, including blue carbon habitats such as seagrass can play in preventing biodiversity loss and in supporting healthy ecosystems and adaptation to climate change. Although set up primarily to conserve marine biodiversity, some features of the UK’s network of Marine Protected Areas (MPA) can also provide climate change mitigation, adaptation and resilience benefits. The MPA network already contains the majority of saltmarsh and seagrass habitats in the UK and our focus is now on ensuring these areas are effectively protected.

In addition, Natural England is leading a four-year £2.5 million EU-funded LIFE Recreation ReMEDIES project running to October 2023, which aims to restore seagrass and maerl habitat in five Special Areas of Conservation and the Environment Agency’s Restoring Meadow, Marsh and Reef (ReMeMaRe) initiative is working to restore our estuarine and coastal habitats to benefit people and nature. The EA’s restoration handbooks are a key tool to support restoration of coastal blue carbon habitats, including seagrass, in the UK and beyond. Furthermore, in April 2022, the UK Government launched its £140 million Natural Capital and Ecosystem Assessment (NCEA) programme, a flagship three-year R&D programme, spanning England’s land, coast and sea. Part of the marine arm of the programme is monitoring and mapping carbon storage and cycling capacity across coastal and sea ecosystems, including seagrass, kelp and the seabed, to inform better management of our natural carbon sinks and sources for climate change mitigation.