Protecting global marine animal forests

Despite years of awareness raised through international initiatives such as the UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow (COP26), the Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021–2030), and the Ecosystem Restoration decade, human activities continue to deeply transform marine ecosystems. Sustainable Development Goal 14—Life Below Water—is the least-funded and most-underrepresented objective in the European Union, with decades of budget allocation delay for ocean research and conservation. Benthic ecosystems suffer from the effects of bottom trawling, urban and agricultural pollution, bioinvasions, climate change, and other anthropogenic pressures. Among these ecosystems, marine animal forests, which are dominated by benthic suspension feeders such as sponges, hard corals, and gorgonians, form three-dimensional habitats that are particularly vulnerable to disturbances.