The Blue Belt is the UK Government’s flagship international marine conservation programme, working closely with UK Overseas Territories to assist them in creating and maintaining healthy and productive marine ecosystems.
The UK Overseas Territories are home to around 90% of the UK’s biodiversity and host a huge range of unique and endangered species, some of which are found nowhere else on earth. This flagship programme has been central to the UK Government’s ambition of leading action to tackle the serious global problems of overfishing, species extinction and climate change.
The Blue Belt aims to assist the UK Overseas Territories in protecting and enhancing ocean health to halt biodiversity loss, enable sustainable growth, ensure climate change resilience, and to connect people with the natural environment. This highly ambitious programme is leading the way in supporting the Territories in the effective management of their marine environments, and in ensuring they are safeguarded for future generations.
The Blue Belt Programme works across several core themes of work, including understanding and protecting biodiversity, strengthening governance and management frameworks, managing human impacts, assisting compliance and enforcement, and capacity building and ocean literacy. Between 2022 and 2025, the Programme will be funded directly by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office’s International Programme Fund.
The funding will provide ongoing support for the management, enforcement and scientific monitoring of Marine Protected Areas, and will allow the programme to develop its understanding of the effectiveness of the marine protection in place. It will also be able to support other Overseas Territories who wish to enhance their marine protection and sustainable management. The Blue Belt Programme is supported by two world-leading organisations – the Centre for Environment Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Cefas) and the Marine Management Organisation (MMO) on behalf of the UK Government.
The Blue Belt Programme has supported the UK Overseas Territories to enhance marine protection across more than 4.3 million square kilometres of marine environment. The latest work and highlights from the Blue Belt Programme can be found in the Annual Update 2021-2022. For a detailed breakdown of Blue Belt Programme activities and achievements, see the Blue Belt Annual Report 2021, Blue Belt Programme 2016-2020 highlights, Blue Belt Programme annual update 2019/20, Blue Belt Programme annual update 2018/19, and Blue Belt Programme annual update 2017/18.
The Blue Belt Programme provides funding to two sub-programmes: the Blue Shield Programme and the Global Ocean Wildlife Analysis Network. These programmes work with UK Overseas Territories to support them with specific elements of the marine conservation and management process.
The Blue Belt Ocean Shield is a maritime domain awareness project, which works to assess and understand the activities that take place within the marine zones of Overseas Territories. The programme assists UK Overseas Territories to better understand the potential impacts of activities on the health and sustainability of their marine environments, and ultimately protect them from harmful activity.
In conclusion, the Blue Belt Programme is a vital initiative in the UK Government's efforts to lead action on global issues such as overfishing, species extinction, and climate change. It is helping to protect the UK's rich biodiversity, which is concentrated in its overseas territories. The programme's work is aligned with the UK's commitment to sustainable development and is helping to ensure that the marine ecosystems of the UK Overseas Territories are safeguarded for future generations. The Blue Belt Programme is an example of how the UK is leading the way in marine conservation efforts, working with partner organizations and territories to promote sustainable management and protection of the world's oceans.
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