May 12th, 2023

New UNESCO Report - Into the Blue: Securing a Sustainable Future for Kelp Forests

The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and their partners GRID-Arendal, the Norwegian Blue Forests Network and the UNEP-WCMC recently launched two reports “Decades of Mangrove Forest Change: What does it mean for nature, people and the climate?” and “Into the Blue: Securing a Sustainable Future for Kelp Forests”.  Our own DCC NEP Executive Director was part of the global group that contributed to the knowledge review on kelp, revealing the state of science on the world’s kelp forests and providing recommended actions to build the recovery of the world’s kelp forests.

Aiming to improve our understanding of the value of kelp forests and provide recommendations to protect and sustainably manage them, the report also provides a range of policy and management interventions and options that can be used to maintain these remarkable ecosystems into the future and to support the people and economies that have depended on them for generations.

Despite the many challenges they face, kelp forests provide valuable ecosystem services, including supporting coastal fisheries, mitigating climate change, and protecting biodiversity. The report emphasizes the importance of combining sociocultural knowledge with economic valuations to strengthen the case for devoting resources to the conservation, sustainable management, and restoration of kelp, the most extensive marine vegetated ecosystem in the world.

To access the report and learn more about these efforts go to Into the Blue: Securing a Sustainable Future for Kelp Forests | UNEP - UN Environment Programme and Visual Feature | Why Blue Ecosystems Matter (unep.org).