University of Portsmouth helps UK move closer to developing financial markets that support marine restoration and value nature

The UK has moved closer to establishing high-integrity marine natural capital markets to significantly boost the protection and restoration of marine and coastal ecosystems. 

This follows the launch of a new roadmap setting out key recommendations and actions for implementation through to 2030. The roadmap, a partnership between the University of Portsmouth,  The Crown Estate, Blue Marine Foundation, Crown Estate Scotland, Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, Finance Earth and Pollination, was launched in the House of Commons yesterday. 

A first-of-its-kind for the UK, ‘High-Integrity Marine Natural Capital Markets in the UK – A Roadmap for Action’ has been co-designed through a year-long process involving over 200 UK and international experts across academia, industry, finance, government and not-for-profits. It presents a pathway to delivering high-integrity marine natural capital markets which can provide much needed new sources of finance to protect, restore and sustainably manage marine and coastal ecosystems.  

Professor Joanne Preston, from the University of Portsmouth’s Institute of Marine Sciences, said: "In the UK we have world-class expertise in assessing and monitoring our marine and coastal ecosystems (natural capital assets), yet confidence limiting knowledge gaps still remain about habitat extent and quality, the quantification of the ecosystem services they provide, and how anthropogenic impacts affect the delivery of these benefits. 

“We need a focused research agenda that addresses these gaps and builds our evidence base using consensus and market relevant approaches."
The seven recommendations call on a wide cross section of stakeholders to address barriers in areas such as funding, target sites for restoration, long term monitoring, data and evidence, and skills and knowledge to deliver marine natural capital  projects at scale. They are:  

• Identify priority opportunities and approved methods for marine and coastal conservation  and restoration. 
• Deliver seascape-scale natural capital projects through combined public and private funding.
• Implement policy and regulatory requirements to drive demand for marine natural capital.
• Accelerate the development of UK-wide codes for marine and coastal ecosystem services.
• Address critical evidence gaps for the development of marine natural capital markets.
• Develop publicly accessible and standardised approaches to data collection, hosting and  monitoring.  
• Build the necessary skills and capacity to harness marine natural capital opportunities. 

The UK’s diverse marine and coastal ecosystems play a critical role in underpinning our economy, health and wellbeing, but they are increasingly threatened by growing pressures including rising  temperatures, development, certain fishing and aquaculture practices, water pollution and other anthropogenic impacts. 
To safeguard and restore our vital marine and coastal environments, natural capital markets provide a route to leverage payments for ecosystem services and unlock much needed private finance where public and philanthropic funding is often stretched.  

However, if poorly designed, these markets also hold potential risks, such as danger of greenwashing, lack of community involvement and benefit, and short-lived or failed projects to protect and restore marine and coastal ecosystems, reducing investor confidence and deterring investment. 

The roadmap sets out steps for developing high-integrity marine natural capital markets which can protect against these risks and deliver real, measurable value for people and nature. 

A copy of ‘High-Integrity Marine Natural Capital Markets in the UK – A Roadmap  for Action’ can be found here.