The Pew Trusts in the United Kingdom

This fact sheet was updated on January 21, 2022 to include the latest information on our campaign work.

Overview

The Pew Charitable Trusts works to encourage responsive government and support scientific research, using data to make a difference on a wide range of issues, including global ocean governance, criminal justice reform, and antibiotic resistance. Our mission is to improve public policy, inform the public, and invigorate civic life. The Pew Research Center, a subsidiary of The Pew Charitable Trusts, studies unfolding global attitudes and demographic trends, and helps policymakers and the public prepare for future challenges. The Pew Research Center has conducted public opinion research in the United Kingdom since 1991, gauging attitudes on the economy, trade, and religion.

In the U.K., The Pew Trusts (a registered branch of The Pew Charitable Trusts) focuses primarily on environmental policy initiatives that protect the global marine environment, from the waters of north-western Europe to the Atlantic Ocean and the pristine seas surrounding the U.K.’s overseas territories.

Key initiatives

Pew’s environmental expertise spans more than 40 years of initiatives to preserve wilderness areas, restore biodiversity, and increase understanding of marine ecology. Our ocean conservation projects include efforts to safeguard habitat, reform high seas governance, and end overfishing—projects geared collectively towards restoring the productivity, diversity, and abundance of our oceans. We work in close collaboration with partners that share a commitment to independent research, measurable results, and public service. Pew has also explored the use of facts and data in decision-making through the Evidence Initiative, a partnership with The Economist Group. Current efforts of The Pew Charitable Trusts and its U.K. branch include:

Establishing Marine Protections in U.K. Overseas Territories

The Pew Bertarelli Ocean Legacy Project, a partnership between Pew and the Bertarelli Foundation, has worked closely with the U.K overseas territories and U.K. government to protect the waters surrounding the Pitcairn Islands, Ascension Island, Tristan da Cunha, and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. These efforts build on a decade of work by both organizations to protect the ocean. Between them, they have helped to establish protected areas to safeguard more than 8 million square kilometers (3 million square miles) of ocean by working with philanthropic partners, Indigenous groups, community leaders, government officials, and scientists.

Preventing Ocean Plastics

Plastic is interlaced with nearly every aspect of human life, from carrier bags and food packages to car parts and mobile phones. Once it enters the ocean, plastic can remain there for hundreds of years, breaking down into even smaller pieces that are more costly and difficult to remove. Today, debris can be found in nearly every corner of the ocean, including remote islands, the two poles—even the deep seafloor. Plastic can also be deadly to marine life, which can get caught in it or mistake it for food. In 2020, following work with governments, industry, scientists, and civil society, Pew released the Breaking the Plastic Wave report—and a corresponding paper in the peer-reviewed journal Science—that used first-of-its kind modelling to show that we can cut annual flows of plastic into the ocean by about 80% in the next 20 years by using existing approaches and technologies. 

Protecting Coastal Wetlands and Coral Reefs

Coastal wetlands host some of the richest biodiversity on the planet. These habitats help vulnerable coastal communities adapt to a changing climate by stabilizing shorelines and serving as a buffer from storms. They can also play a role in mitigating the effects of climate change because they sequester large amounts of carbon. Pew is working with several countries—currently including the Seychelles, Belize, and Costa Rica—to help them integrate the protection and restoration of coastal wetlands and coral reefs into their climate commitments, and to explore scaling this approach to substantially reduce the rate of coastal habitat loss worldwide. Pew was pleased to incorporate this work and related activities into preparations for COP26, the international climate conference that was held in Glasgow, Scotland, in November 2021.

Strengthening Global Fisheries Governance

Pew’s international fisheries campaign works to end overfishing by reforming the way fish stocks are managed and improving efforts to end and prevent illegal fishing. Its aim is to shift management towards new ways of improving the long-term health of fisheries and the ecosystems that they are a part of; use evolving technology and cooperation among coastal, flag, market, and port States to track and prevent illegal fishing; increase efforts to improve compliance with existing rules; and strengthen international treaties aimed at building a stronger governance system. By collaborating with organisations such as the U.N. International Maritime Organization, the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization, the Global Tuna Alliance, and other market partners, this work will secure healthy, resilient marine ecosystems for the long term.

Our mission

The work of The Pew Trusts builds upon the data-driven and results-oriented approach of The Pew Charitable Trusts, a global non-governmental organization dating to 1948. For more than 70 years, Pew has turned indifference into action—asking tough questions, studying problems, working with strong partners, and striving for effective solutions that bring diverse stakeholders together.