Blue carbon is stored in mangroves, seagrass and sediments. Discussions at the UN Ocean Decade conference reiterate the importance of preserving existing sea floor habitats, before it’s too late.
Artist’s conception of what a structure to support floating mangroves would look like.
Aptum Architecture/CEMEX
Mangrove forests are shrinking due to human activities, yet they’re essential for shoreline protection and carbon sequestration. Ongoing research explores the concept of “floating” mangrove forests.
Wetlands like this need protection because they absorb carbon dioxide and curb floods.
Rodger Shagam/Getty Images
Any plan to dam or extract water from some of Australia’s last wild rivers must carefully consider the consequences. Prawn, mud crab and barramundi fisheries could suffer in the Gulf of Carpentaria.
Pollution is affecting fishing in Nigeria’s Niger Delta. Yasuyoshi Chiba/AFP.
Getty Images
Environmental degradation of Nigeria’s Niger Delta region is causing poverty as well as food insecurity, increased crime and conflict.
People shout slogans during a protest in Jakarta against plans to evict 7,500 residents from Rempang island to make way for a Chinese-owned glass factory as part of an ‘Ecocity’ development.
EPA-EFE/MAST IRHAM
Rising seas are pushing coastal ecosystems to the limit of endurance. Now international research reveals a “tipping point” will be reached if we allow more than 2 degrees of global warming.
Marine sediments are the world’s largest store of carbon, and fiords in particular are a massive sink. But New Zealand doesn’t even have an oceans policy to develop blue carbon climate policy.
An invasive lionfish at Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary in the Gulf of Mexico.
G. P. Schmahl/NOAA
One of the most damaging invasive species in the oceans has breached a major barrier – the Amazon-Orinoco river plume – and is spreading along Brazil’s coast. Scientists are trying to catch up.
Karizki Hadyanafi, National Development Planning Agency (BAPPENAS); Bimo Dwisatrio, Centre for International Forestry Research, and Sandy Nofyanza, Centre for International Forestry Research
As the world’s largest archipelagic state, Indonesia has great potential to earn carbon credits to protect its endangered mangroves and seagrass – which now store around 17% of global “blue carbon”.
In the Sundarbans swamp, pneumatophores are upward growths of mangrove root systems that allow them to capture oxygen.
https://www.shutterstock.com/es/image-photo/pneumatophores-mangrove-forest-bed-green-moss-2130650117
Sara Ahmed, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) Pune
On the border between India and Bangladesh, the Sundarbans suffer from overexploitation and rising sea levels. With a “Climate Wall” project, a virtual museum is raising awareness and increasing resiliency.
A mangrove seed at Nxaxo estuary on South Africa’s Wild Coast.
J. Raw
Lyla Mehta, Institute of Development Studies; D Parthasarathy, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, and Shibaji Bose, National Institute of Technology Durgapur
Facing human threats, Mumbai’s Koli community are taking risk reduction into their own hands – other vulnerable coastal settlements should take note.