🌅 Saving the World’s Largest Marine Biome

SOURCE

United Nations Environment Program

WHAT TO KNOW

• Kelp forests are disappearing at twice the rate of coral reefs and four times faster than tropical rainforests, underscoring a growing crisis that experts say is escalating quickly while still flying under the radar. Research shows the vast decline—roughly half of the world’s kelp forests have been lost or significantly degraded in the past 50 years—is driven by a devastating combination of warming oceans, water pollution, bottom trawling, and exploding populations of kelp-devouring urchin. To counter the decline, scientists around the world are now taking decisive action, including breeding new kelp varieties, eradicating urchin populations, and embarking on vast restoration projects.

WHY IT MATTERS

• Kelp forests are the world’s largest marine biome. They cover more than a third of all coastlines and span an area up to five times larger than coral reefs. Kelp forests are also considered biodiversity hotspots, providing the foundational habitat and primary food sources for thousands of marine species. Kelps are also one of the fastest growing plants on the planet, uptaking carbon at a rate on par with tropical rainforests. While much of the carbon kelp sequesters ends up being released back into the marine environment as leaf litter, research has shown that kelp forests help sequester 31 million tons of carbon dioxide each year.

CONNECT THE DOTS

• Beyond marine life, kelp forests are also a boon for humans. Research suggests they contribute around $500 billion in economic benefits each year by sustaining coastal fisheries, cycling nutrients in water, and protecting coastlines from storms and sea level rise. Kelps are also used to fertilize soil and produce soda ash for manufacturing, and can be found in a variety of food products, pharmaceuticals, and biomedical products.