GO-BC
GO-BC endorses Convex Seascape Survey as their latest Ocean Decade project.
GO-BC are delighted to welcome the Convex Seascape Survey as our latest endorsed action under the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development and send our best wishes to Gail Fordham, Callum Roberts, Rachel Delhaise (at Convex Group Limited) and the wider team members at Blue Marine Foundation and the University of Exeter.
In August 2025 the Convex Seascape Survey received confirmation of its endorsement as an official Decade Action, providing formal acknowledgement that the project is addressing an important thematic gap in current knowledge.
The Convex Seascape Survey is an ambitious five-year research programme, comprising more than sixty scientists who are focussing their minds on the little-studied carbon stored in the seabed. Currently, unlike seagrass, saltmarsh and mangroves, marine sediments are not recognised by global policy frameworks as an official blue carbon habitat. However, due to their vast extent, there is an urgent need for evidence quantifying their role in the ocean carbon cycle.
A cross-sectoral partnership between the University of Exeter, Blue Marine Foundation and Convex Group Limited, the project brings together the expertise and resources needed to tackle this challenging topic. Working with a consortium of global partners, the team are investigating: Where, why and how does carbon become buried in the seafloor? What role does life and biodiversity play? And what are the impacts of disturbance vs. protection on these stocks?
Photograph: Blue carbon session panelists at the One Ocean Science Congress in Nice, France. From left to right: Tom Brook (WWF), Ariane Arias-Ortiz (UAB), Carlos Duarte (KAUST), Kirsten Isensee (IOC-UNESCO), Vidar Helgesen (Executive Secretary IOC-UNESCO), Vanessa Hatje (IAEA), Callum Roberts (CSS) and Bill Austin (GO-BC)
In June, a group from the Convex Seascape Survey went to the One Ocean Science Congress in Nice to promote their preliminary results through a series of talks and posters. Chief Scientist, Professor Callum Roberts, joined several other GO-BC members for a fascinating dialogue at the Town Hall Session ‘Blue Carbon in the Global Ocean’ which was convened between GO-BC, the International Atomic Energy Agency and the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission.
This panel concentrated on the future potential and challenges posed by the field of blue carbon science, and it was a great opportunity to raise the profile of emerging blue carbon ecosystems, such as marine sediments.
Want to learn more the progress of the Convex Seascape Survey? You can explore the project website here or read their latest Annual Report 2024-25.
“We are thrilled to receive this international recognition, and work with GO-BC on knowledge sharing and consensus building for ocean-based climate solutions”.
Gail Fordham, Science Programme Manager for Blue Marine Foundation