FCEA Blog: Increasing Ambition with Blue Carbon: Protecting Coastal Wetland Ecosystems as a Carbon Dioxide Removal Strategy to Meet the Paris Agreement’s Goals

„The basic idea is to protect coastal wetland ecosystems – mangroves, seagrass beds and salt marshes – because the plant biomass and soils sequester and store carbon at rates up to 50 times higher than their terrestrial counterparts. While sequestration and storage can vary greatly across geographies and ecological conditions, it is estimated that global blue carbon systems store at least 45 Mt CO₂ per year. It is further estimated that if coastal wetlands were restored to their extent in 1990, annual carbon sequestration would increase to 160Mt CO2 yr-1. Blue carbon ecosystems also provide a suite of co-benefits, including mitigating sea level rise, providing critical fisheries habitat, and nutrient filtration.“

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