Ribbon-like fronds flutter hundreds of miles from the nearest shore in the ocean currents rushing through a submerged mountain plateau the size of Switzerland. A remote-controlled camera glides through the sunlit, turquoise waters of the western Indian Ocean, catching rare footage of the world's largest seagrass meadow, according to scientists. According to the United Nations Environment Programme, human activity is destroying the size of a soccer field of these seagrasses every 30 minutes around the world (UNEP).

According to a 2012 study in the journal Nature Geoscience, seagrasses play a significant role in controlling ocean ecosystems, storing more than twice as much carbon from planet-warming carbon dioxide (CO2) per square mile as forests have on land.

Countries that want to get credit for reducing CO2 emissions could count their seagrasses and the carbon they hold, first step toward approving carbon credits for future open market trading. The grasses help to reduce the acidity of nearby waters, which is necessary as the ocean absorbs more Carbon dioxide from the air and makes it more acidic.

Seagrass as Climate Ally

The shallowness of Saya de Malha enables sunlight to penetrate the seabed, creating an underwater prairie in the Indian Ocean that provides shelter, nurseries, and feeding grounds for thousands of marine species.

The bank's remote location has helped it avoid coastal threats such as pollution and drilling. Such far-flung stretches of international waters, are rapidly invaded by shipping and industrial fishing. The researchers collected pieces of grass floating in the water while the boat was gliding over the plateau for days, putting them into bottles for examination back on land.

According to the most recent seagrass census published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in 2009, seagrass meadows are withdrawing at a pace of about 7% per year globally. The prediction was based on insufficient information available at the time.

According to the report, if these were still unchanged, they could have housed about 400 million fish and held up to 11.5 million tonnes of carbon, which is equal to 3% of Britain's CO2 emissions in 2017.

According to UNEP, Seychelles is evaluating its coastal seagrass carbon stock for the first time, and at least ten countries have stated that seagrasses will play a role in their climate action plans.

The Seychelles and Mauritius, which share authority over the seabed of the Saya de Malha, should monitor and care for the abundance of seagrass on their common doorstep, according to James Michel, Seychelles' president for 12 years since 2016.