A restoration project on the Greek island of Lemnos is working to revive the largest Posidonia oceanica seagrass meadow in the Eastern Mediterranean. The meadow covers nearly 140 square kilometers and is estimated to store over 270,000 tons of carbon dioxide, comparable to the annual emissions from a small city's car fleet. The pilot phase, led by the environmental group iSea along with the Hellenic Ornithological Society and the Municipality of Lemnos, has transplanted more than 250 Posidonia shoots. Posidonia oceanica is a flowering marine plant, not seaweed, that forms dense underwater meadows acting as carbon sinks and critical habitat for marine life. The project, part of the "Reviving Lemnos" initiative, aims to protect biodiversity while locking away carbon. Blue carbon ecosystems like seagrass meadows are increasingly recognized for their role in climate mitigation, though scaling up restoration and measuring carbon credits remain practical challenges.
