This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: A study provides the first large-scale empirical evidence that seagrass meadows act as a critical safety net for millions of coastal people living in extreme poverty across the Indo-Pacific. Led by scientists from Project Seagrass, a seagrass conservation organization, the research found that at least 18 million people in poverty across the Indo-Pacific fish in seagrass meadows, including 6.5 million who are entirely dependent on the habitat for subsistence and fishing-related income.
Seagrasses are flowering plants that form extensive underwater meadows along shallow coastlines. Although less familiar than coral reefs or tropical forests, these meadows support accessible fisheries that can be reached on foot or with limited equipment, making them especially important to households with few alternative sources of food or income. Women and other marginalized groups frequently play central roles in these fisheries.
The research identifies that, across the Indo-Pacific, households in extreme poverty were significantly more likely to be entirely dependent on seagrass meadows for their fishing activities, with seagrass-dependent households earning 23% less than other fishers. The data make visible a population of millions of people in poverty whose livelihoods intersect with a habitat that remains largely absent from poverty, development and conservation agendas. The research is published in the journal Nature Sustainability.
By linking household-level poverty data with seagrass-proximate population estimates, the study reveals a largely invisible population whose livelihoods are closely tied to one of the world's most overlooked marine habitats. The findings suggest that reliance on seagrass fisheries may reinforce a coastal poverty trap, where households with few alternatives remain dependent on low-income livelihoods connected to vulnerable seagrass ecosystems. Benjamin Jones, chief conservation officer at Project Seagrass and one of the lead researchers on the study, said, "This study changes how the world needs to see seagrass.
These aren't just meadows for fish, for turtles or carbon. They're hidden safety nets for millions of people. When seagrass disappears, it's not just nature that's lost.
Food, income and security disappear with it, often for the people least responsible for its decline and least able to adapt. Seagrass loss is a direct threat to food security, livelihoods and justice across some of the world's most climate-vulnerable coastlines." The research highlights the importance of integrating seagrass ecosystems into poverty alleviation and sustainable development strategies to break this cycle. Failure to do so risks deepening coastal poverty and worsening food insecurity, undermining progress toward SDGs 1 and 2 (ending poverty and hunger).
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