In August 2025 we were excited to receive endorsement as an official Decade Action – formal acknowledgement that the Convex Seascape Survey is contributing to international goals for marine conservation and climate action.
Working to quantify the role of a healthy ocean in combating climate change, the survey is well placed to contribute to the aims of the United Nations Ocean Decade.
The UN Ocean Decade acknowledges that the ocean holds the key to an equitable and sustainable planet and constitutes a shared, global effort to generate ‘the science we need for the ocean we want’. By fostering collaboration and aligning research that address regional and thematic gaps in ocean science the vision of the UN Ocean Decade is to reverse the decline in ocean health.
Currently, unlike seagrass, saltmarsh and mangroves, marine sediment is not recognised by global policy frameworks as a blue carbon habitat. Consequently, there is an urgent need to collaborate and build scientific consensus that leads to informed policies regarding sediment habitats. The Convex Seascape Survey is filling this important thematic gap in evidence and driving the field forward.
There are more than 50 UN Ocean Decade programmes, and the Convex Seascape Survey is hosted under the Global Ocean Decade Programme for Blue Carbon, or ‘GO-BC’ as it’s known. Working with GO-BC will enable the project team to connect with a broad network of blue carbon experts from around the world, and support delivery of the project’s outputs to policymakers and communities.
Science Programme Manager Gail Fordham of Blue Marine Foundation said,
“We are thrilled to receive this international recognition, and work with GO-BC on knowledge sharing and consensus building for ocean-based climate solutions.
Three years in, we are at an exciting juncture in the survey, with model refinement, fieldwork and data analysis gathering momentum and leading to the publication of exciting first results.”
