Abu Dhabi, 16th October 2025: As part of the Abu Dhabi Climate Change Strategy, the Environment Agency–Abu Dhabi (EAD), in partnership with TotalEnergies, has launched a groundbreaking seagrass restoration programme, marking a pivotal step in preserving Abu Dhabi’s marine ecosystems and reinforcing its global role in promoting nature-based solutions to address the challenges of climate change.
This year-long project underscores the Environment Agency–Abu Dhabi's commitment to developing best practices for restoring seagrass habitats, contributing to the conservation and development of blue carbon systems. Seagrass meadows are among the most effective coastal ecosystems for absorbing and storing blue carbon in their tissues, roots and soil. In addition to their role in mitigating the effects of climate change, seagrasses play a vital role in enhancing biodiversity. They are important natural habitats for a wide range of marine species, contribute to sustainable fisheries, improve water quality and support ecotourism.
Abu Dhabi is home to three types of seagrass meadows, which cover an area of 3,000 square kilometres, supporting more than 3,500 dugongs and 4,000 green sea turtles, among other marine life. Abu Dhabi is home to the world’s second-largest dugong population after Australia, which feeds exclusively on seagrass. This makes protecting, conserving, and developing seagrass meadows vital for their survival.
The project has successfully planted 10,000 square metres of seaweed, capable of storing 52 tonnes of carbon, equivalent to 23 flights from Abu Dhabi to London, in alignment with the “2030 Seagrass Breakthrough of the UN Ocean Decade of Ocean Science”. It relies on the use of the most widespread seagrass species in the emirate, ‘Halodule uninervis’, and incorporates the latest technology and innovations for post-cropping monitoring and follow-up.
Since 1999, TotalEnergies has partnered with EAD to protect Abu Dhabi’s ecosystems – supporting dugong conservation, protecting flamingo habitats, conducting research on coastal resilience to climate change, and promoting biodiversity research at Al Wathba. Their work promotes initiatives focused on nature-based solutions, improving soil and air quality in mangrove forests, seagrass and salt marshes. A key outcome is the dugong and Seagrass Research Toolkit, now used in over 40 dugong and 80 seagrass range states.