The UK’s first Blue Natural Capital Lab and network

Sussex Bay is home to the UK’s first Blue Natural Capital Lab and network. Funding and developing seascape projects is difficult.  Marine, coastal and estuarine recovery is generally small scale and there are a lot of hurdles in the way.  

Projects spend a lot of time applying for funding, dealing with regulation and licensing which can be costly, and more fundamentally there are very few organisations working in the field.  Joined-up seascape level thinking is very new, and around the UK we’re not even sure where habitat and species recovery is actually needed.

Sussex Bay has identified a series of key barriers that need to be tackled to unlock progress.  That’s why we’re setting up the UK’s first Blue Natural Capital Lab, a place for collaboration, innovation, and testing.

We are bringing together key agencies, local partners and communities together, including from key national policy teams, to explore better seascape planning, funding and project development.  The Blue Natural Capital Lab funds our Blueprint for Seascape Recovery. We will coordinate scientific research in Sussex Bay, and enable innovation in research and monitoring methods, including the use of new technology.