The Blue Belt Programme supports the UK Overseas Territories with
the protection and sustainable management of their marine
environments.
Contents
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Objectives and
funding
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Achievements
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The Blue Shield
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Additional resources and
publications
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Further information
Since 2016 the UK Overseas Territories have enhanced marine
protection across over 4 million square kilometres of marine
environment with support from the Blue Belt Programme.
From the vast penguin colonies of South Georgia & the South
Sandwich Islands to the marine turtles of Ascension Island, the
UK Overseas Territories are home to globally significant
biodiversity.
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.
Objectives and funding
Above image shows geographic scope of the Blue Belt Programme.
The Blue Belt Programme works closely with UK Overseas
Territories to help them enhance the protection and management of
their precious marine environments. The Overseas Territories that
are included within the programme are highlighted above.
The Blue Belt enhances marine protection across over 4 million
square kilometres of marine environment by:
- understanding and protecting biodiversity
- strengthening governance
- managing human impacts
- supporting sustainable fisheries management
- supporting compliance and enforcement.
Between 2016 to 2021, the Blue Belt programme was funded by
nearly £25 million from the Conflict, Stability and Security
Fund. The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office will
directly fund the Programme for 2021/22, with £8 million funding
confirmed.
This 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 4.3 million square
kilometres of marine environment.
See recent work and highlights from the Blue Belt Programme with
the Annual Update 2020-2021:
For a detailed breakdown of Blue Belt Programme activities and
achievements, see the below publications:
The Blue Shield
The Blue Shield is a maritime domain awareness project, which
works to assess and understand the activities that take place
within the marine zones of the Overseas Territories.
This is in order to better understand the potential impacts of
activities on the health and sustainability of the Territories’
marine environments, and ultimately protect them from harmful
activity.
The Blue Shield is a Blue Belt Programme funded project:
Blue Shield
(PDF, 1.96MB,
3 pages)
Additional resources and publications
Below are a selection of public facing documents that have been
produced by the Blue Belt Programme’
Pitcairn Islands whale watching code of conduct resources:
Climate change report cards:
Additional resources
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Tristan da Cunha
update (PDF,
821KB, 14 pages)
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Blue Belt: satellite
surveillance, evaluation and next steps (PDF, 1.66MB, 11 pages)
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Summary of unmanned
aerial vehicle trails for use in UK Overseas Territories
(PDF, 332KB,
9 pages)
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St Helena Blue Belt
workshop (PDF, 1.1MB, 25 pages)
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Report on the Tristan da
Cunha marine protection planning workshop(PDF, 568KB, 23 pages)
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BIOT conservation
management planning workshop report (PDF, 957KB, 24 pages)
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Beyond the Blue Belt:
technology for compliance and enforcement (PDF, 1.18MB, 39 pages)
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Blue Belt Privacy
Notice (PDF,
61.3KB, 5 pages)
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Blue Belt Programme
Roundtable: Protected Area Management Effectiveness
(PDF, 2.82MB,
47 pages)
