Seagrass meadows are part of the marine plants that conform the “blue forests”, which play a key role as carbon sinks, biodiversity spots and other essential features, such as being food, providing shelter, purifying water and stabilizing sediments. I found the local species of seagrass to be particularly captivating elements, not only because of these characteristics but also because they largely define the landscape of Ria Formosa, in Southern Portugal. The landscape characteristics – its colours, shapes, organization – depends very largely on these marine plants, that can be found underwater and, according to the tides, also outside the water, in sand banks and the shoreline; between land and water. Seagrass meadows are also called gardens of the sea, and in that poetic stance I imagined that proper landscape care within IPCC’s goals regarding climate change could also integrate these borderline territories. Between the Sea and the Shore is a series about the unique underwater gardens of seagrass meadows, bringing attention to these threatened ecosystems from which most of life on our seas depends.

This series had the Portuguese Ministry of Culture as an institutional partner.