Last fall, between November and December 2025, OCEAN CITIZEN hosted its first three-part webinar miniseries, Understanding Blue Forests, bringing together researchers from across Europe to explore the fundamental role of marine forests in sustaining ocean life and regulating the global climate. As part of the project, the miniseries offered a connected narrative on how underwater ecosystems function, why they are under threat, and how science-based restoration can strengthen ocean resilience. Across three complementary sessions, participants explored how marine forests capture carbon and sustain biodiversity, underscoring their importance for ocean health, climate mitigation and human well-being.
The series opened with a broad introduction to marine forests, led by Prof. Sergio Rossi (UNISAL), coordinator of OCEAN CITIZEN. This first webinar explored the diversity of underwater forests, from seagrass meadows and algal canopies to coral gardens, and explained how these marine communities act as true ecosystem engineers, shaping habitats, supporting marine life and sustaining key ecosystem services. The session emphasised their high vulnerability to human pressures such as pollution, coastal development and climate change, while underlining the urgent need for coordinated restoration efforts. In this regard, OCEAN CITIZEN was presented as an example of a multidisciplinary approach that combines scientific research, conservation action and sustainable development to protect these vital ecosystems for biodiversity, climate regulation and societal benefits.
Building on this foundation, the second webinar focused on blue carbon and ecosystem resilience, with contributions from researchers Dr. Enrique Isla and Juan Usó (ICM-CSIC). The session explored how marine benthic ecosystems such as mangroves, saltmarshes and seagrass meadows capture and store large amounts of carbon, often more efficiently and for longer periods than terrestrial forests. Beyond carbon sequestration, the speakers highlighted the wide range of ecosystem services provided by these underwater forests, including food provision for coastal communities, coastal protection against storms and erosion and nursery habitats for marine biodiversity. The webinar also highlighted the major threats pressuring blue carbon ecosystems, including pollution, plastic contamination, coastal urban development and ocean warming. Overall, the webinar concluded that blue carbon ecosystems are critical for climate change mitigation due to their exceptional capacity to store carbon, while also providing a wide range of ecosystem services. Their restoration and conservation are essential to maintain these functions over time, as effective protection benefits both nature and human communities by strengthening climate resilience, supporting food security and enhancing coastal protection.
The final webinar shifted the focus to marine functional connectivity, described as the ocean’s hidden highway, and was led by connectivity expert Prof.Dr. Federica Costantini from the University of Bologna. This session explored how marine organisms move and interact across habitats and why understanding these processes is vital for effective marine ecosystem restoration. The webinar addressed the challenges of studying connectivity in the marine environment and presented innovative approaches, including genetic tools and environmental DNA, alongside case studies from the Canary Islands developed within OCEAN CITIZEN. These examples demonstrated how integrating connectivity into restoration planning helps avoid isolated populations, maintain genetic diversity and ensure long-term ecosystem recovery in a rapidly changing ocean.
Together, the Understanding Blue Forests miniseries offered a comprehensive and interconnected perspective on the role of marine forests in ocean health, climate regulation and restoration. A second webinar series is already in preparation and will dive deeper into marine forests restoration. Consortium’s experts will take us on a journey to discover the threats faced by these underwater ecosystems from shore to deep blue, and what restoring them implies at different depth ranges. Stay tuned, this series will be launched in spring.
