A roadmap for protecting and restoring 4 million hectares of kelp forests by 2040
- Year of publication
- 2023
- Involved from NIVA
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Trine Bekkby
- Contributors
- Aaron M. Eger, María Altamirano, Anita Giraldo-Ospina, Nina Larissa Arroyo, Kendall L. Barbery, Rebecca Barclay, Anne M. Bauer-Civiello, Rodrigo Beas, Trine Bekkby, Alecia Bellgrove, Scott Bennett, Blanca Bernal, Jordi Boada, Nigel Bradly, Simon Branigan, Tom Calvanese, Bruno Cevallos, Christopher E. Cornwall, Samantha Deane, Hannah Scarlett Earp, Annalisa Falace, Karen Filbee-Dexter, Hunter Forbes, João N. Franco, Rita M. Franco-Santos, Karen Gray Geisler, Dang Diem Hong, Ljiljana Iveša, Isabela D. C. Keski-Frantti, Lydia Ladah, Cayne Layton, Duong Minh Le, Sian A. Liddy, Scott D. Ling, Steve I. Lonhart, Luisa Mangialajo, Ezequiel Marzinelli, Tristin Anoush McHugh, Kelsey Irene Miller, Margalida Monserrat, Christopher J. Neufeld, Gregory N. Nishihara, Shane Orchard, Betsy Peabody, Celine Rebours, Keith R. Rootsaert, Maria Schreider, Mohammad Sedarat, Shannen M. Smith, Elisabeth M. A. Strain, Zoe F. Studd, Laura Tamburello, Brian Timmer, Sander Van Den Burg, Julio A. Vasquez, Reina J. Veenhof, Adriana Verges
Summary
Essential for healthy oceans, coastal communities, fisheries, economies, and marine biodiversity from the subtropics to the polar regions, kelp forests are an integral and threatened ocean ecosystem. Their benefits are connected to over 740 million people who live beside a kelp forest, and their economic potential is valued at least 500 billion USD per year. Despite the ever-growing and increasingly prominent threats to the ocean’s largest biological ecosystem and the loss of their associated benefits, kelp forest conservation has lagged behind conservation efforts in other terrestrial and marine environments. The Kelp Forest Challenge aims to address this disparity and accelerate investment and action for kelp forest ecosystems by promoting the restoration and protection of 4 million hectares of kelp forests, globally, by 2040. This roadmap is a detailed strategy for how businesses, governments, communities, universities, content creators, and anyone else with an interest can help meet the Kelp Forest Challenge. To save our kelp forests, we will need substantial investment, collaboration, and innovation across different sectors, countries, and philosophies;equitable and large-scale success for kelp forests will only be achieved by bringing together the diversity of solutions outlined here and creating a sustainable ocean for everyone.