The Blue Carbon Initiative formed in February 2011 is a global program working to mitigate climate change through the restoration and sustainable use of coastal and marine ecosystems. The Initiative currently focuses on mangroves, tidal marshes and seagrasses. The Blue Carbon Initiative brings together governments, research institutions, non-governmental organizations and communities from around the world. The Initiative is coordinated by Conservation International (CI), the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), and the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (IOC-UNESCO).
The Blue Carbon Initiative works to:
• Develop management approaches, financial incentives and policy mechanisms for ensuring the conservation, restoration and sustainable use of coastal blue carbon ecosystems;
• Engage local, national, and international governments in order to promote policies that support coastal blue carbon conservation, management and financing;
• Develop comprehensive methods for assessing blue carbon stocks and emissions;
• Implement projects around the world that demonstrate the feasibility of blue carbon accounting, management and incentive agreements; and
• Support scientific research into the role of coastal blue carbon ecosystems for climate change mitigation.
The International Blue Carbon Initiative is a coordinated, global program focused on mitigating climate change through the conservation and restoration of coastal and marine ecosystems. Coastal ecosystems are some of the most productive on Earth. They provide us with essential ecosystem services, such as coastal protection from storms and nursery grounds for fish. We also know that they provide another integral service - sequestering and storing "blue" carbon from the atmosphere and oceans and hence are an essential piece of the solution to global climate change.
Research into the sequestration, storage and loss of carbon from blue carbon systems is ongoing. For more information at http://thebluecarboninitiative.org/
(Sources: http://thebluecarboninitiative.org and UNESCO/IOC)
