Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to implement the recommendation of the Climate Change Committee to encourage "efforts to monitor, understand and analyse changes in the extent, condition and functioning of marine and coastal ecosystems", as set out in their report Briefing: Blue Carbon, published in March.

The United Kingdom established a new cross-Administration UK Blue Carbon Evidence Partnership (UKBCEP), to progress the evidence base on blue carbon habitats in UK waters and advance our commitment to protecting and restoring blue carbon habitats as a nature-based solution. Through the UKBCEP, UK Administrations are working together with the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and Defra to address key research questions related to blue carbon policy.

In April 2022, the UK Government launched its £140 million Natural Capital and Ecosystem Assessment programme, a flagship three-year R&D programme, spanning England's land, coast and sea. The programme includes mapping of blue carbon stock and sequestration rates and measuring the effects of physical damage and disturbance to the seabed (such as from bottom trawling) on blue carbon storage. This work will be used to inform marine planning and development decisions. In the programme's proof-of-concept year, the Environment Agency mapped areas within saltmarshes with different capacities to capture and store carbon, bringing the national saltmarsh zonation map up to 96.5% coverage of England's total saltmarsh habitat. The programme's work is now expanding to incorporate seagrass meadows and other coastal habitats to increase our understanding of their carbon storage and sequestration rates.

We are also improving understanding of the impact of climate change on marine and coastal ecosystems. The Marine Climate Change Impacts Partnership (MCCIP) synthesises the latest research and evidence on climate change impacts and predicted trends affecting those ecosystems. Established in 2005, MCCIP engages with a wide range of scientific authors and reviewers to produce updates on the evidence base. Going forward, topic updates will be provided on a rolling basis, supplying policy makers and the public with updates on the current and predicted impacts of climate change as they happen, to inform dynamic UK policy approaches to adaptation.