Researchers at Arizona State University Center for Global Discovery and Conservation Science have published the first high-resolution global map of seagrass ecosystems in Nature, addressing a persistent deficit in marine monitoring. Led by assistant professor Jiwei Li, the initiative deployed an artificial intelligence model trained on satellite imagery and validated through diver-collected ground-truth data. Utilizing ASU Agave and Sol supercomputers, the team processed millions of images to establish a consistent global baseline that identifies seagrass presence, density, and distribution across waters up to thirty meters deep. Integrated into the Allen Coral Atlas platform, the dataset compares coverage from 2019 to 2020 against 2023 to 2024. Analysis reveals a four percent global decline over the period, primarily driven by coastal development, fertilizer pollution, and climate stressors including hurricanes and marine heatwaves. Conversely, the map documents successful recovery in actively managed regions, such as South Bay near Los Angeles and clarified waterways in Cuba, highlighting the vegetation rapid regenerative potential compared to slower-growing coral systems. The research also quantifies the ecological and economic value of seagrass meadows. Scientists estimate these submerged plant communities store approximately 640 teragrams of carbon in surface sediments, a volume equivalent to the annual CO2 emissions of 500 million cars. As foundational coastal infrastructure, seagrass stabilizes shorelines, filters aquatic pollutants, and sustains fisheries and marine food webs. The spatial data simultaneously exposes a major conservation deficit: although seventy percent of global seagrass lies near the coastlines of the United States, Bahamas, Cuba, Australia, and Indonesia, only twenty-one percent resides within marine protected areas. Nearly eighty percent of documented loss occurred in unprotected waters, flagging these zones as urgent priorities for the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework thirty by thirty target. This dataset establishes a standardized, globally observable framework for coastal governance. By embedding seagrass distribution into marine protected area design, carbon credit verification, and environmental enforcement, decision-makers can execute restoration strategies with precise, measurable outcomes. As satellite hyperspectral imaging matures, researchers project expanded depth tracking capabilities, further strengthening data-driven climate mitigation and ecosystem management protocols worldwide.