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Seagrasses are marine flowering plants that are found in shallow coastal waters on every continent except Antarctica. Similarly to grass on land, they form meadows that provide food and shelter to thousands of marine species and sustain some of the world’s largest fisheries such as the Alaska (walleye) pollock and the Atlantic cod . They improve water quality by filtering, cycling and storing nutrients and pollutants, and stabilise sediments, contributing to the resilience of adjacent vulnerable ecosystems such as coral reefs. 

By reducing wave energy, seagrasses also contribute to protecting coastal communities from destructive waves and flooding associated with storms. Moreover, they are highly efficient carbon sinks, storing up to 18% of the world’s oceanic carbon (). This ability to absorb and store carbon makes seagrasses an important contributor to climate change mitigation known as “blue carbon". 

Despite their importance, seagrasses are being lost at a rate of 2-7% annually . The main threats to seagrass globally are poor water quality, direct disturbance (e.g., coastal development, trawling) and climate change (heat waves, sea level rise, and ocean acidification). Loss of these ecosystems results not only in loss of critical habitats, but also in enhanced emissions of greenhouse gases that further exacerbate climate change. 

Global monitoring of seagrasses is essential to detect and understand the extent of decrease of the world's seagrass ecosystems, focus restoration efforts and evaluate their blue carbon potential. However, the global extent of seagrass is still unknown (in a range of 177,000 – 600,000 km²) () underlining the need for an increase in coordinated observation efforts to enhance understanding and conservation of the seagrass ecosystems worldwide. 

In response, and to ensure that observations are consistent and information can be combined across local to international scales, seagrasses are recognised as an of the, led by the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of UNESCO . Through the coordination efforts of GOOSocean observations of seagrasses are being brought together and made available through the GOOS , connected to and supported by the Ocean Biodiversity Information System. 

In addition to the observing efforts being coordinated via GOOS, the UNESCO/IOC is also coordinating international efforts to protect these vital marine ecosystems. together with Conservation International and IUCN, is bringing together leading scientists from around the world to help advance research on coastal wetlands in support of conservation, management and financing. 

In addition, the , comprising more than sixty partners and 18 governments globally is helping researchers, managers and policy makers  to connect, share and collaborate to build solutions, with a vision to protect, sustainably manage and restore global coastal blue carbon ecosystems, including seagrasses.

The UNESCO/IOC is also a founding partner of the a programme endorsed under the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021-2030) and a partner in the European project , which seeks to enhance knowledge and understanding of blue carbon ecosystems and increase their inclusion in national greenhouse gas inventories and reporting under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in the European Union. 

To learn more about IOC’s work on seagrasses, please visit and