THE BLUE BELT PROGRAMME

The Blue Belt Programme. The Blue Belt Programme supports the UK Overseas Territories with the protection and sustainable management of their marine environments.

The Blue Belt is the UK Government’s international marine conservation programme. It works closely with UK Overseas Territories to assist them in creating and maintaining healthy and productive marine ecosystems.

The UK Overseas Territories are estimated to be home to up to 90% of known endemic UK biodiversity, and host a huge range of unique and endangered species, some of which are found no-where else on earth.

This 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.

Objectives and funding

The Overseas Territories within the Blue Belt Programme are highlighted in the above image.

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 these core themes of work:

• understanding and protecting biodiversity
• strengthening governance and management frameworks
• managing human impacts
• assisting compliance and enforcement
• capacity building and ocean literacy.

Between 2022 – 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 us to develop our understanding of the effectiveness of the marine protection in place. We will also be able to support other OTs 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.

Achievements

The Blue Belt Programme has supported the UK Overseas Territories to enhance marine protection across more than 4.4 million square kilometres of marine environment.

See latest work and highlights from the Blue Belt Programme with the Annual Review 2024-2025: