The latest version (May 25) of the Guiding Principles for implementing the Seaweed Breakthrough are aimed at protecting seaweeds and their wider habitats in an ethical way. The guiding principles provide a Code of Conduct for all parties, including civil society organizations, governments, Indigenous Peoples, local communities and the private sector who commit to endorsing the Breakthrough, and to reaching the targets in a fair and equitable way in line with the following principles:

1. Safeguarding nature and ecosystem function – all actions contributing to the Seaweed Breakthrough must align with protecting seaweeds and their habitats.

2. Employ science-based best practices in decision making – the most up-to-date scientific knowledge base and evidence-based understanding, including local knowledge and Indigenous knowledge, must be used to inform principles and practices for the Seaweed Breakthrough.

3. Inclusion, equity and justice – all conservation, restoration, monitoring and finance activities relating to the Seaweed Breakthrough must be undertaken with the explicit support, engagement, social inclusion, prioritisation of human and environmental rights and leadership of local communities, including Indigenous Peoples and marginalised communities, who depend upon or live alongside seaweed habitats. All actions must also ensure a just and equitable access to and clear benefit from efforts to conserve, protect and restore seaweeds for local communities, including the data and information generated from any such actions.

4. Empowerment and capacity building – all activities must include some form of capacity building as necessary to empower through the development and strengthening of skills, abilities and resources of organisations and communities who rely on seaweeds, taking into account gender and social equity.

5. Transparency and accountability – all activities relating to the Seaweed Breakthrough must be conducted in a transparent and accountable way.

6. Monitoring, Compliance, and Enforcement – all impacts (positive and negative) related to the activities of the Seaweed Breakthrough must be tracked at local, regional and global levels against Global Biodiversity Framework indicators to show progress on the delivery, review performance and highlight the legacy of the Breakthrough targets.

7. Policy Coherence – all actions, as appropriate, related to the Seaweed Breakthrough must work towards harmonising policies across various sectors and local legal frameworks to create a unified approach that supports and promotes the effective management of both the conservation of seaweed ecosystems and the livelihoods of communities dependent on these resources.

8. Design for sustainability, resilience and adaptability – all activities contributing to the Seaweed Breakthrough should be designed to be sustainable, resilient and adaptable using climate-smart approaches beyond 2030, to ensure flexibility given the climate crisis.

9. Sustainable financing – all stakeholders must ensure that financing for the Seaweed Breakthrough is ethical and includes diverse sources of funding through sustainable and long-term financing and investment methods; consideration of natural capital accounting and development of nature-positive economies should be included.

10. Platform for innovation – all activities relating to the Seaweed Breakthrough should enable stakeholders to pioneer new innovative solutions, whenever possible.