When the United Nations examines the health of the world’s oceans it turns to scientists around the globe. When it comes to seagrass, particularly here in North America, the United Nations looks to Dr. Agnes Mittermayr, Director of the Benthic Ecology Program at the Center for Coastal Studies.
Mittermayr, who is also director of SeagrassNet, an international scientific network that monitors the world’s seagrass meadows, was tasked by the UN to contribute to the Third World Ocean Assessment (WOA III), which was released on June 8th – World Ocean Day.
The Assessment is an interdisciplinary overview of the world’s oceans covering environmental, economic and social aspects, written by teams made up of more than 650 experts. Its purpose is to support sustainable development policies.
Mittermayr joined the Seagrass Meadows Subchapter Team, a group of ten scientists representing Africa, Europe, Australia, Asia, South America and North America. Agnes was responsible for reporting on the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of North America.
For the Assessment, Mittermayr was asked to write in terms that could be easily understood by policy makers. “It summarizes scientific literature so non-scientists and policy makers can understand what’s going on and act accordingly,” she explained.
While the entire World Ocean Assessment is nearly 1700 pages, the seagrass section is just a few succinct pages. The challenge, Mittermayr said, was limiting it to the few words she was allowed. “I could write hundreds of pages on the state of seagrass meadows but I was only allowed to submit a few hundred words.”
According to a UN summary, WOA III updates earlier World Ocean Assessments and adds sustainability pathways while addressing gender and equity and the inclusion of Indigenous and local community knowledge.
“Inclusion in the World Ocean Assessment is important because it highlights the importance of seagrass meadows, and prioritizes efforts to conserve them,” said Mittermayr.
Called the “forgotten ecosystem,” seagrasses play a vital role in the health of our oceans and the well-being of coastal communities. Seagrass meadows stabilize shorelines, protect against storm surges, purify water, support rich marine biodiversity, and provide nursery grounds for fish and shellfish that sustain global fisheries. Perhaps most critically in today’s climate crisis, they also sequester carbon at rates comparable to – or even exceeding – terrestrial forests.
Mittermayr said she was selected to be on the WOA III writing team in part because of her work on the 2030 UN Seagrass Breakthrough. A Breakthrough in this context is a compass, or roadmap, with which stakeholders work together to set goals and chart a course toward achieving those goals. In 2024, Mittermayr was tapped to join a team of about three dozen global experts in this UN effort to conserve critical seagrass ecosystems. The 2030 Seagrass Breakthrough’s goal is to conserve 150,000 square kilometers of seagrass by 2030, and mobilize $1.2 billion in funding.
In addition to the section on North American seagrass, Mittermayr was tasked with writing a section in WOA III called “Implications for achieving the Sustainable Development Goal targets.” This section briefly summarizes the way seagrass meadows contribute to sustainable development goals such as carbon sequestration, disaster resilience, food security, and marine conservation.
Key points in the Assessment’s seagrass section are that seagrass meadows are “experiencing accelerated degradation due to urbanization and climate change… [and] play a crucial role in carbon storage, habitat provision and water quality improvement, yet their functions are not widely recognized or fully utilized.”
The Assessment cites the need for enhanced international collaboration and capacity building – work that Mittermayr is already undertaking with SeagrassNet.
“Agnes’ role in the UN’s World Ocean Assessment III, as well as her leadership in SeagrassNet, which is a large and international monitoring effort, is a great example of how the work we do extends far beyond our own coastline. The research we conduct here on Cape Cod helps critical ecosystems here and on a global scale,” said CCS Executive Director Anne-Marie Runfola.
Coastal development, pollution, warming oceans, and rising sea levels are accelerating the loss of seagrass at an alarming rate. However, with monitoring and intervention by scientists like Dr. Mittermayr and her colleagues, as well as municipal and community leaders, the economic and environmental impact of shrinking seagrass ecosystems – collapsing fisheries, degraded coastlines, and lost opportunities for climate resilience – may be significantly reduced.