Save 'blue carbon'

Dubbed "blue carbon" because of their littoral environment, mangroves, salt marshes and sea grasses previously undervalued, these coastal carbon sinks are beginning to gain attention from the climate and conservation communities. They can sequester vast amounts of carbon—up to five times that stored in tropical forests.

Because they hold so much carbon, destroying them can release substantial amounts of CO2. People around the world wreck coastal habitats through aquaculture, agriculture, timber extraction and real estate development. To date, human encroachment has destroyed more than 35 percent of mangroves, 30 percent of sea grass meadows and 20 percent of salt marshes.

Stopping such destruction could therefore become an important element in confronting climate change. At the global scale, coastal wetland destruction could account for 1 to 3 percent of industrial emissions; a number that will increase along with coastal wetland destruction.

According to scientists, the main hope for conserving these coastal habitats lies in a combination of economics and science. The first step is recognizing the importance of coastal carbon pools as a significant tool for climate mitigation.

Even without carbon markets nations have obligations to manage their greenhouse gas emissions, which means that the carbon in these coastal habitats can be tallied in national accounts as a way of contributing to their management of global greenhouse emissions. Companies, say the experts, could also start volunteering to launch socially and environmentally friendly coastal habitat projects in the name of climate protection.