PROJECT PORTFOLIO
The Planet
East Head Impact grants approved to date total £1,000,000
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WHAT OUR PARTNER SAYS
"East Head Impact is a wonderful supporter of the Solent Seascape Project. They are hugely enthusiastic, bolstering Blue Marine's sense of purpose in undertaking this ambitious and important project, but they have also been critical friends, providing invaluable input and guidance to ensure that the project has the best possible governance and reporting structures.
Above all, they are engaged heart and soul in our mission to restore life to the Solent and this makes for a very special partnership."
clare brook, chief executive officer, the blue marine foundation
Ⓒ Louise MacCallum
GRANTS IN THE ENVIRONMENT - 2023
Blue Marine Foundation
Blue Marine is dedicated to protecting and restoring life in the ocean, which it considers to be critical if the world is to mitigate and adapt to climate change.
It is a registered charity founded in 2010 and has grown rapidly, acquiring an international reputation for its ambition, connections and ability to deliver environmental projects at pace.
Blue Marine’s vision is a healthy ocean, abundant with life, that supports people and the climate. Its mission is to ensure the effective protection of at least 30 per cent of the ocean by 2030 and the sustainable management of the whole ocean, and to support the livelihoods of coastal communities through the recovery of marine biodiversity.
*Registered Charity Number: 1137209
Photo Credits
Louise MacCallum. Matt Jarvis. Luke Helmer.
GRANTS IN THE ENVIRONMENT - 2023
Charity Overview
Blue Marine Foundation acts as a catalyst to protect and restore life in the ocean. It works in partnership with small-scale fishers, local organisations and governments to deliver marine conservation and restoration solutions to the climate and biodiversity crisis.
It uses science, community engagement, media and legal campaigns, investigations, education initiatives and policy work to deliver conservation impact. It intervenes strategically but without geographic restriction, responding to the needs of the marine environment.
Blue Marine seeks to achieve its mission through four strategic pillars:
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Securing effective protection of the ocean.
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Tackling overfishing, overexploitation and other damaging activities.
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Supporting low-impact fishing and equitable use of the sea.
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Restoring vital ecosystems.
Blue Marine works in any area of the world where its interventions can deliver tangible and rapid results. It has secured commitments to protect over four million square kilometres of ocean, restored key habitats, established sustainable models of fishing and inspired thousands of children and adults through its films and educational programmes. Blue Marine currently operates in 24 countries around the world and is currently managing over 50 conservation projects located in, among other areas, the UK, the UK Overseas Territories, Namibia, the Maldives and the Mediterranean.
Blue Marine is innovative in the blue carbon field and is seeking to prove the value of blue carbon habitat restoration in the UK. It has also pioneered native oyster habitat restoration in the Solent, restoring oyster reefs and delivering over 100,000 oysters onto the reefs.
GRANTS IN THE ENVIRONMENT - 2023
The Solent Seascape Project
The purpose of East Head Impact’s grant is to co-fund the Solent Seascape Project. This is led and managed by Blue Marine, and is being delivered over the five-year period 2022-2027 at a budgeted cost of £4.8 million by 10 partner organisations.
The Solent strait covers an area of 522 square kilometres between mainland England and the Isle of Wight and contains dynamic and estuarine habitats bursting with life.
The Solent Seascape Project is the first of its kind in the UK to initiate seascape recovery at scale. Its long-term vision is to protect and restore at least 30% of the Solent’s seascape, tipping the balance from a degraded state to a naturally expanding, connected and productive ecosystem.
By restoring and connecting the Solent's seascape, the Solent Seascape Project will provide nature-based solutions to many of the issues currently affecting it and the people who depend on it, as well as helping to fight the impacts of climate change.
Ⓒ Matt Jarvis
THE SOLENT SEASCAPE PROJECT: AN OVERVIEW
Key Aims - The Solent Seascape Project
The Solent Seascape Project will reconnect the Solent into a functioning seascape by improving the condition, scale and connectivity of oyster reef, seagrass meadow, saltmarsh and seabird nesting habitats using protection and restoration initiatives – creating a more resilient coastline, enhancing biodiversity and supporting the sustainable delivery of ecosystem benefits.
The five key aims of the Solent Seascape Project are to:
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Collaborate with local stakeholders and communities to develop and co-create a long-term seascape recovery plan, that supports better management of existing Solent marine and coastal habitats.
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Actively restore eight hectares of saltmarsh, seven hectares of seagrass, four hectares of oysters, and ten breeding seabird nesting sites to increase habitat extent and catalyse recovery across the wider seascape, improving ecological connectivity.
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Assess ecosystem service benefits (carbon, biodiversity, nitrates), creating an evidence base of the wider benefits of seascape restoration.
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Develop key interventions and financial mechanisms to upscale the potential for seascape restoration in the longer term by working with government and regulators.
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Empower local communities and build capacity to ignite and improve understanding of seascape processes, catalyse behavioural change, and increase involvement in seascape recovery.
Blue Marine’s partners in the Solent Seascape Project are the Royal Society for Protection of Birds, the Hampshire & Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust, Chichester Harbour Protection and Recovery of Nature (CHaPRoN), the University of Portsmouth, the Isle of Wight Estuaries Project, Coastal Partners, Project Seagrass, Natural England and the Environment Agency. Pursuant to the project agreements, each partner has specific deliverables and responsibilities allocated to it.
GRANTS IN THE ENVIRONMENT - 2023
Solent Seascape Project Funding
The Project's budgeted cost of £4.8 million is fully funded with grants of:
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£3.6 million from the Endangered Landscapes & Seascapes Programme
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£1 million from East Head Impact (composed of a £900,000 grant to Blue Marine and a £100,000 grant to CHaPRoN)
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£200,000 from two other funders
In accordance with the project funding agreement, Blue Marine will allocate portions of East Head Impact’s grant to each of the Project partners to co-fund the budgeted costs of their specific deliverables and responsibilities over the five-year period (except for CHaPRoN budgeted costs which are being co-funded directly from the separate grant from East Head Impact).
The Endangered Landscapes & Seascapes programme is building a future in which landscapes and seascapes are enriched with biodiversity, establishing resilient, more self-sustaining ecosystems that benefit both nature and people. It is managed by the Cambridge Conservation Initiative, a collaboration between ten leading biodiversity conservation organisations and the University of Cambridge, in partnership with Arcadia.
Arcadia is a charitable foundation that works to protect nature, preserve cultural heritage and promote open access to knowledge. Since 2002, Arcadia has awarded more than $1 billion to organisations around the world.
Ⓒ Louise MacCallum
OVERVIEW
Grant Impact
The Solent Seascape Project outcomes over the five-year period include:
EMPOWER local communities and BUILD CAPACITY to ignite and IMPROVE UNDERSTANDING of seascape processes, catalyse BEHAVIOURAL CHANGE and increase involvement in SEASCAPE RECOVERY
actively restoring
8
HECTARES of saltmarsh
7
HECTARES of seagrass meadows
4
HECTARES of oyster reefs
10
NESTING bird sites
DELIVER a RESILIENT SEASCAPE capable of adapting to CLIMATE CHANGE IMPACTS while also contributing to climate change mitigation through COASTAL PROTECTION and increased carbon sequestration.
PROVIDE an EVIDENCE-BASE for governments to move towards large-scale, nature-based solutions for mitigating and adapting to climate change.
PROTECT existing saltmarsh (1,263 hectares), seagrass meadows (650 hectares), oyster reefs (1,761 hectares) and seabird nesting habitat (supporting 12,000 breading birds) from further degradation through better management measures.
QUANTIFY the carbon, nitrate, biodiversity and fisheries BENEFIT of RESTORING THESE HABITATS and explore the multiplier effect of improving condition through PROTECTION and RESTORATION to increase the extent of these habitats.
ESTABLISH a replicable model for seascape protection and restoration through securing effective accreditation, regulation and licensing arrangements.
BUILD understanding of the socio-economic impact to key stakeholders from a restored landscape.
QUANTIFY the CARBON, NITRATE, BIODIVERSITY and FISHERIES BENEFIT of RESTORING these HABITATS, and explore the multiplier effect of improving condition through protection and restoration to increase the extent of these habitats.
Ⓒ Luke Helmer
GRANTS IN THE ENVIRONMENT - 2023
Solent Seascape Project outcome targets for 2040 include:
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The Project is a well-established, pioneering initiative that demonstrates the benefits of a seascape scale approach to ocean recovery.
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The Project is a replicable, large-scale example of blue carbon ecosystem restoration, self-financed through the sale of carbon, nitrate and biodiversity credits.
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Habitats are recovering naturally due to improved water quality and habitat reconnection.
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Breeding birds have sustained good productivity and key species populations have increased.
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Restoration of saltmarsh and seagrass meadows facilitates further ecosystem recovery and creates greater resilience to coastal change impacts, and plays an important role in improving water quality, enhancing biodiversity and storing carbon through the ecosystem services they provide.
