{"id":29,"date":"2011-05-20T07:25:08","date_gmt":"2011-05-20T07:25:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wsa.seagrassonline.org\/blog\/?p=29"},"modified":"2011-05-25T06:03:12","modified_gmt":"2011-05-25T06:03:12","slug":"seagrass-in-the-global-%e2%80%9cblue-carbon%e2%80%9d-initiative","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wsa.seagrassonline.org\/blog\/archives\/29","title":{"rendered":"Seagrass in the global \u201cBlue Carbon\u201d initiative"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Miguel Fortes<\/span><\/p>\n

It is only very recently that the importance of protecting and restoring seagrass habitats has been clarified as a climate change mitigation strategy. Towards this end, Conservation International, IUCN, IOC\u2010UNESCO and partners are \u201cbuilding a program to coordinate and guide establishment of coastal \u2018blue\u2019 carbon as a conservation and management tool contributing to climate change mitigation and the development of associated conservation financing mechanisms\u201d. The initial action in order to realize the program was the formation in February 2011 of the \u201cBlue Carbon\u201d International Scientific Working Group.<\/p>\n

The group is tasked to:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Develop coastal marine conservation and management approaches that maximize sequestration of carbon and avoided emissions in coastal systems.<\/li>\n
  2. Design and implement the program of work for carbon accounting in coastal systems and in turn developing economic incentives<\/li>\n
  3. Coordinate with and synthesize other related existing science and policy activities<\/li>\n
  4. Identify relevant pilot field projects, and provide guidance, technical advice, and support to the pilot projects.<\/li>\n
  5. Identify essential science gaps for research programs<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Five of the 22 members of the working group are well known to us in the WSA and seagrass circle: Carlos M. Duarte, Miguel D. Fortes, Jim Fourqurean, Nuria Marba, and Peter Ralph. The working group is convened by Conservation International, International Union for Conservation of Nature, and the UNESCO Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission. The Waterloo Foundation, NASA and UNEP have provided funding for the group.<\/p>\n

    The initial recommendations of the group are coming out soon in a pamphlet: \u201cMinimizing Carbon Emissions and Maximizing Carbon Sequestration and Storage by Seagrasses, Tidal Marshes, Mangroves\u201d<\/em>. They embody the immediate steps that need to be taken by coastal communities, managers, policy makers and the scientific community. In brief, these steps are: <\/em><\/p>\n

      \n
    1. Enhanced national and international research efforts\u2014building on existing scientific data, analysis, and available technologies, a coherent and programmatic global data gathering and assessment effort is needed.<\/li>\n
    2. Enhanced local and regional management measures\u2014current knowledge of the carbon sequestration potential of coastal wetlands and emissions from drained systems is sufficient to warrant enhanced management actions now.<\/li>\n
    3. Enhanced international recognition of coastal carbon ecosystems\u2014current international actions to reduce the impacts of climate change do not recognize the greenhouse gas emissions resulting from the degradation of coastal wetlands or the role of healthy coastal ecosystems in sequestering carbon dioxide.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
      \"Photo<\/a>

      A healthy mixed species seagrass meadow in Ilog Malino, Bolinao, Philippines. Photo courtesy of M. Fortes<\/p><\/div>\n

      \"Photo<\/a>

      Bleached seagrass meadow in Ilog Malino, Bolinao, Philippines. Photo courtesy of M. Fortes<\/p><\/div>\n

      At the moment, the group is developing the Global Coastal Carbon Data Archive.<\/p>\n

      For more information:<\/p>\n

      Blue Carbon Report<\/a><\/p>\n

      Recommendations<\/a> from the 1st meeting of the Blue Carbon Scientific Working group<\/p>\n

      Blue Carbon blog<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      By Miguel Fortes It is only very recently that the importance of protecting and restoring seagrass habitats has been clarified as a climate change mitigation strategy. Towards this end, Conservation International, IUCN, IOC\u2010UNESCO and partners are \u201cbuilding a program to coordinate and guide establishment of coastal \u2018blue\u2019 carbon as a conservation and management tool contributing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[4],"class_list":["post-29","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-blue-carbon"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2Cwsq-t","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":65,"url":"https:\/\/wsa.seagrassonline.org\/blog\/archives\/65","url_meta":{"origin":29,"position":0},"title":"World Oceans Day","author":"Giuseppe","date":"8 June, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Raising the voice for the world\u2019s seagrass on World Oceans Day Seagrass meadows around the world continue to be under threat from the activities of humans. Over fishing, climate change, coastal development, extreme weather and poor land management are all contributing to the continued global loss of these diverse and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Outreach\"","block_context":{"text":"Outreach","link":"https:\/\/wsa.seagrassonline.org\/blog\/archives\/tag\/outreach"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wsa.seagrassonline.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/fish_posidonia-150x150.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":229,"url":"https:\/\/wsa.seagrassonline.org\/blog\/archives\/229","url_meta":{"origin":29,"position":1},"title":"10th International Seagrass Biology Workshop – B\u00fazios, Brazil","author":"Siti","date":"29 November, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"On the 25th of November 2012, the beach town of B\u00fazios, Brazil was invaded when approximately 100 scientists from every continent (except maybe Antarctica) descended on the unsuspecting local population to talk about grass, seagrass to be exact. The constant dribble of rain did not dampen (pun totally intended) the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Conferences & Workshops"","block_context":{"text":"Conferences & Workshops","link":"https:\/\/wsa.seagrassonline.org\/blog\/archives\/category\/conferences-workshops"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wsa.seagrassonline.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/photo18.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":225,"url":"https:\/\/wsa.seagrassonline.org\/blog\/archives\/225","url_meta":{"origin":29,"position":2},"title":"“Seagrass meadows in a globally changing environment” WSA Special Issue in Marine Pollution Bulletin","author":"Siti","date":"17 September, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Dear Members We would like to invite all members of the World Seagrass Association to submit articles for a WSA special issue of the journal Marine Pollution Bulletin titled \u201cSeagrass meadows in a globally changing environment\u201d. A description of the special issue and its proposed content is listed below. The\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":309,"url":"https:\/\/wsa.seagrassonline.org\/blog\/archives\/309","url_meta":{"origin":29,"position":3},"title":"Notes from the field: A wee taste of Scottish seagrass","author":"Siti","date":"17 February, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Every so often, we feature seagrass meadows from all over the world. This week, Maria Potouroglou writes about seagrass in Scotland. Maria is a PhD student at Edinburgh Napier University studying carbon sinks in seagrass. Her seagrass adventures started six years ago with projects in Greece, Spain and England. --------------------------------------------------------\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Notes from the field"","block_context":{"text":"Notes from the field","link":"https:\/\/wsa.seagrassonline.org\/blog\/archives\/category\/nftf"},"img":{"alt_text":"maria_soctland_fig1","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wsa.seagrassonline.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/maria_soctland_fig1-300x182.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":353,"url":"https:\/\/wsa.seagrassonline.org\/blog\/archives\/353","url_meta":{"origin":29,"position":4},"title":"ISBW11 Day Two: Rising to the challenge – a quick chat with Mike Fortes.","author":"Siti","date":"9 November, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Day two of the 11th International Seagrass Biology Workshop opened with Mike Fortes issuing a challenge to seagrass scientists to lead the charge on raising awareness on seagrass habitats in the morning's plenary. Mike believes that there is still much work to be done on seagrass science and management in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Conferences & Workshops"","block_context":{"text":"Conferences & Workshops","link":"https:\/\/wsa.seagrassonline.org\/blog\/archives\/category\/conferences-workshops"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":342,"url":"https:\/\/wsa.seagrassonline.org\/blog\/archives\/342","url_meta":{"origin":29,"position":5},"title":"Expressions of interest to host ISBW12","author":"Ainsley","date":"3 September, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"The World Seagrass Association Inc. invites expressions of interest from members and interested organisations\/institutions who would like to host the 12th International Seagrass Biology Workshop (ISBW) in 2016. The International Seagrass Biology Workshop series is a meeting of research scientists, students and coastal environment managers focusing on global seagrass issues,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Conferences & Workshops"","block_context":{"text":"Conferences & Workshops","link":"https:\/\/wsa.seagrassonline.org\/blog\/archives\/category\/conferences-workshops"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wsa.seagrassonline.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wsa.seagrassonline.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wsa.seagrassonline.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wsa.seagrassonline.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wsa.seagrassonline.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wsa.seagrassonline.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wsa.seagrassonline.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wsa.seagrassonline.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wsa.seagrassonline.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}