Every seaweed counts in global pledge

When we initiated the Love Rimurimu project, we joined more than 200 organisations and hundreds of people around the globe working to protect and restore kelp forests.

These vital ecosystems are being lost by the day: increasing air and water temperatures, degradation through sea bottom trawling, overfishing and pollution have reduced their extent in many coastal areas. Wellington harbour is no exception to the global trend.

In many places, the water is loaded with sediments, water quality is poor and marine temperatures are rising. Other ecosystem imbalances are also created by removing top predators like crayfish and large fish.

But it’s not too late. With science, knowledge-sharing, community-building, education - alongside hard work, determination and funding - we can protect the kelp forests that remain and support the restoration of the diverse seaweed species that make them up.

The Kelp Forest Alliance brings together people and organisations aiming to protect, enhance and restore kelp forest ecosystems. This year they’ve set an ambitious goal - to rally organisations around the world to commit to protecting three million hectares and restoring one million hectares of kelp forest by 2040.

While there is a growing movement to protect and restore kelp forests, as a habitat for marine species and as a tool to mitigate climate change impacts, these ecosystems are often forgotten on the world stage. The Kelp Forest Challenge pledge is an effort to grow awareness, build connections and provide some momentum for this important work.

The Love Rimurimu team has some ambitious goals, but we’re also a small team and we’ve got a harbour in which only some areas are suitable for seaweed restoration.

So we’ve made a pledge of one hectare of seaweed restoration in Wellington by 2025, and will be scaling up as we build our knowledge and resources; and sharing our learning as a toolkit so other groups around Aotearoa can follow in our footsteps.

Our pledge is a drop in the ocean - but all restoration projects will make an impact here, big and small. Every community around the world has a part in protecting and restoring these vital ecosystems.

If you’d like to be a part of the work to do this, sign up for our newsletter or send us an email.

You can read more about the pledge and the Kelp Forest Alliance here.