Blue Carbon for Climate Mitigation
“Blue carbon” is a term for the carbon that is sequestered and stored naturally by marine and coastal wetland ecosystems — mangroves, seagrasses and tidal marshes. These coastal wetlands are gaining more and more recognition as important and efficient carbon sinks, based on their ability to sequester large amounts of carbon not just in the plants themselves, but also in their soils, where it can remain for hundreds to thousands of years.
However, when these ecosystems are destroyed or degraded, much of the carbon stored in the soils is released back into the atmosphere and ocean, shifting these ecosystems from acting as net sinks to sources of carbon emissions.
This is important because the release of carbon into the atmosphere is a major driver of climate change, and “blue carbon” ecosystems hold a LOT of carbon — a given area of mangrove forest, for example, can store up to 10 times as much carbon as the same area of tropical forest. Thus, the conservation, restoration, and sustainable use of these ecosystems are essential for combating climate change as well as maintaining the many additional ecosystem services they provide (e.g., fisheries, water quality, coastal protection) that contribute to climate adaptation and improved human well-being.
Martin Cathrae