Abstract
The potential for Blue Carbon ecosystems to combat climate change and provide co-benefits was discussed in the recent and influential Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate. In terms of Blue Carbon, the report mainly focused on coastal wetlands and did not address the socio-economic considerations of using natural ocean systems to reduce the risks of climate disruption. In this paper, we discuss Blue Carbon resources in coastal, open-ocean and deep-sea ecosystems and highlight the benefits of measures such as restoration and creation as well as conservation and protection in helping to unleash their potential for mitigating climate change risks. We also highlight the challenges—such as valuation and governance—to marshaling their mitigation role and discuss the need for policy action for natural capital market development, and for global coordination. Efforts to identify and resolve these challenges could both maintain and harness the potential for these natural ocean systems to store carbon and help fight climate change. Conserving, protecting, and restoring Blue Carbon ecosystems should become an integral part of mitigation and carbon stock conservation plans at the local, national and global levels.
Highlights
The ongoing global COVID-19 pandemic and its global human and economic repercussions brings to the fore the recognition that the sustainability of our economic systems very much depends on the sustainability of ecosystems and biodiversity
This paper expands the discussion of the role of Blue Carbon in climate change mitigation strategies by focusing on the importance of conserving existing marine pathways of carbon fixation, transport, burial and sequestration, and highlighting the challenges associated with the measurement, valuation, management, and governance of carbon in coastal, open ocean, and deep-sea ecosystems
Among potential answers are nature-based solutions, which play a key role in maintaining active carbon sequestration processes and preventing human assisted-nature-based emissions
Summary
The ongoing global COVID-19 pandemic and its global human and economic repercussions brings to the fore the recognition that the sustainability of our economic systems very much depends on the sustainability of ecosystems and biodiversity. It introduces Blue Carbon-driven ecological and economic climate change mitigation measures and identifies two management approaches in Chapter 5 (Bindoff et al, 2019) (i) Actions to maintain the integrity of natural carbon stores, decreasing their potential release of greenhouse gasses and (ii) Actions that enhance the long-term removal of greenhouse gasses from the atmosphere by marine systems.
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