ARTEMIS Guide
ARTEMIS - Interreg Euro-MED, Co-funded by the European Union
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Why seagrass matters

Mediterranean seagrass meadows are among the planet's most efficient blue-carbon and biodiversity assets - and they are vanishing faster than they naturally recover, mainly due to human economic activities.

Key question

Why should a company corporate sustainability team care about Mediterranean seagrasses?

Posidonia oceanica and other Mediterranean seagrass species stabilise the seabed, filter coastal waters, store carbon at rates that outperform tropical forests per hectare, and act as nursery habitats for commercially fished species. Their decline removes a quiet but essential layer of resilience along the entire Mediterranean basin.

The baseline evidence
  • Considerable historical loss of meadows across the Mediterranean, with ongoing pressure from anchoring, dredging, water quality and warming.
  • A persistent financing gap between what restoration costs and what public funding currently covers - the gap private capital is best placed to close.
  • Restoration scenarios modelled by ARTEMIS show what different levels of corporate engagement could deliver in terms of hectares restored and ecological return.