The Blue Belt Programme supports delivery of the U.K. Government’s manifesto commitment to provide long term protection of over four million square kilometres of marine environment across the UK Overseas Territories. It provides £20 million over four years (2016 to 2020) to:
• Improve scientific understanding of the marine environment;
• Develop and implement evidence-based, tailored marine management strategies
including surveillance and enforcement; and
• Ensure management is sustainable and long term.
The UK and the UK Overseas Territories are custodians to the fifth-largest marine estate in the world. These territories and their waters are home to globally significant biodiversity, from vast penguin colonies in the South Atlantic to tropical rainforests in the Caribbean. Some of their species and habitats are found nowhere else on earth.
• 94% of British endemic species are found within the territories.
• 85% of the Critically Endangered species (for which the UK Government is responsible)
are within the territories.
The Blue Belt Programme is initially focused on seven islands and archipelagos: British Indian Ocean Territory, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, British Antarctic Territory, Pitcairn, St Helena, Ascension Island and Tristan da Cunha.
The programme is being delivered in partnership between the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Cefas) and the Marine Management Organisation (MMO). We are also working closely with the UK Overseas Territories on behalf of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra). The Blue Belt Programme is also committed to working with NGOs, academics and external stakeholders, to ensure we have access to world-leading research and experience as we move forward with the delivery of the programme.
