When you recall about the bottom of the ocean what do you call back of – shipwrecks , sharks , or seabed sediments secretly tackle the climate crisis ? Did that last compass point make your lean ? Well , it ’s not surprising if it did n’t as scientists are just depart to understand it themselves . It is part of a relatively novel field of scientific study , blue carbon , which is helping to make that last point not so secret anymore .
puritanical carbon is atermused to describe the atomic number 6 stack away in marine and coastal ecosystems . Just like plants on land can get rid of carbon dioxide from our atmosphere via photosynthesis , so do many nautical plants and alga . These dark carbon home ground also happen to be some of the most awe - inspire on the major planet , with meadows of underwater seagrass , kelp forests home to utterly adorable animals , mangroves , and Ngaio Marsh . These are just some exercise of the habitats that restrict for the title as they are good at bewitch carbon .
Actually , just using the word‘good ’ is whole underplaying it , they are extraordinary at it . compare to forests on land , saltmarshes can set apart ( the process of catch and storing ) C at rates43 - 55 times more per unit area . Seagrass covers less than 0.1 % of the seafloor but is responsible for for 10 - 18 % of the total carbon stack away by our oceans and can capture carbon35 metre faster than a rainforest . There would be no turf war when it comes to land vs sea grass here , there ’s a open winner . And as carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas , by removing it from the standard atmosphere these habitats are helping to come down the effects of climate change .
There ’s also an extra bonus to the initial simplification in carbon dioxide from our atmosphere as the C can become‘locked’in these habitats , such as in Davy Jones sediments , and carbon 14 dating has corroborate it can be locked awayfor millennium . How much carbon can be buried away in deposit is complex to assess with many factors , such as hydrodynamics , master producers , deposit , and temperature , influencing how much is actually locked away . However , compared to terrene ecosystems , blue atomic number 6 ecosystems can bury carbon at a rate that is a wholeorder of magnitude greater . And it is approximate that seagrass , saltmarshes , mangrove , and seaweeds are responsiblefor 50%of the carbon locked off in nautical sediments . These carbon seizure city have been on the Q.T. storing carbon paper all over the world since their existence , but it ’s only recently human beings have start to compensate attention . The terminus blue carbon copy was only mint in 2009 and with habitats like seagrass and saltmarshes being find around the slide of all Continent except Antarctica , it ’s really something we should all be make up attention to .
Blue carbon is a very new field of research , but we are go out blue carbon paper follow through in environmental impact assessments for offshore malarky farms , only very recently within the preceding year , whereas that was n’t a retainer before .
These habitats have got C capture class , but what about capturing our hearts?Caitlin Cunningham , Marine Sustainability Advisor from NatureScot in Scotland , explains that“blue carbon habitats provide an important mood regulation inspection and repair but they also run an important use in the wider ecosystem they be in . They sustain high-pitched levels of biodiversity and other critical ecosystem services such as coastal flood defense reaction , urine filtration , and baby’s room home ground for adolescent Pisces mintage , which increase intellectual nourishment security ” . Seagrass meadow alone are guess to support sportfishing grounds thatfeed over 3 billion people . These habitats are quietly undertake the issues humanity is face and all whilst being hubs of nautical wellness . How could you not fall in beloved with these home ground hook , railway line , and doughnut ?
But research has revealed a worrying taking into custody . With so much carbon stored in a humble area , the destruction or disturbance of these habitats can unlock the carbon stored up over all that time — and that can be a muckle . Part of the problem is that blue carbon paper habitats are typically find in coastal surroundings , places where threats such as growing , befoulment , and rising sea levels have all lead to annihilating loss of these habitats . pressure such as coastal development have causedover 50%of table salt marshes and seagrasses to be lose in Europe ( where we have long - terminal figure data to record this ) . Although the grandness of these sphere is now more widely recognized , globally between 2000 - 2019 we still lose an area of saltmarshtwice the sizing of Singapore . Mangrove ecosystem do n’t get along any skillful , they cover around 15 % of the world ’s glide andmore than halfare imperil to crumple .
To put into context just how much carbon paper that could have released we can look at this on a smaller scale leaf of a unmarried bay , in a exclusive country . Between 1885 and 2019 , Jamaica Bay , NY , USA fall behind 95 % of the carbon lay in in its wetlands , which released around the annual carbon emission of 4.5 million average US cars . Cunningham adds that there is a treble snow with the expiration of blue carbon home ground ; not only does this initially release carbon dioxide which“exacerbates the current climate crisis but then we are also potentially lose whatever succeeding carbon segregation potential they hold ” .
It is clear that these ecosystem are tremendously valuable . So how are they being protected?“They might already be protect , ” Cunningham answers,“because we acknowledge seagrass is an of import home ground from a biodiversity perspective ” . So in some caseful , we might already be in hazard because we recognize the value of other Service they put up , let for protection to be put in blank space .
The field of puritanic C inquiry has also stepped up , have sex there ’s little time to spare , with scientific paper released on naughty carbon research increase by20 percent every class . Research into spicy carbon has allowed us to measure the amount of carbon released and this corking understanding allow for upright protections and direction to be integrated into marine policy . As a result of these findings , the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change has begun to talk over blue carbon at an international insurance policy level . We are then learn blue C being weigh right down to individual developments . Cunningham explains that“blue carbon is a very novel field of research , but we are seeing blue carbon paper derive through in environmental encroachment assessment for seaward current of air farms , only very recently within the past year , whereas that was n’t a thoughtfulness before ” . It is refreshing to see this prospect for carbon impacts to be considered right at the start rather than the rethink .
It ’s about the correct ontogenesis in the proper shoes : the evolution of marine renewable energy is important to help us tackle the mood crisis but we ’re also in a biodiversity crisis , it ’s crucial that we maximise climate change mitigation whilst minimising wallop to nature .
A recent win in our intellect of blue C came in 2024 as the UK became the first land to map and estimate the carbon copy of 885,000 square kilometre ( 341,700 square miles ) of its seabed . The Blue Carbon Mapping Project has estimated that244 million tonnesof carbon are stored in just the top 10 cm of UK seabed habitat . That ’s over one-half of the integral UK ’s emission in 2022 . Given that 70 % of the Earth ’s surface is covered by marine sediments , it ’s both a reminder of just how important a role the sea play in the clime crisis and a disturbing view of what find if that carbon becomes unlocked . So how are we pilot developing our ocean now we know the secret of just how much carbon paper Davy Jones’s locker sediments could be storing ?
Cunningham explains that first of all there is still much to learn . “We want to best understand the pressure fundamental interaction of the different industry and activities and what they have on blue atomic number 6 habitats — many employment of our sea really have a modified impact on these patrician C habitats and can coexist . ” But Cunningham continues providing a very insightful peek behind the mantle at how decisions on formulate our sea alongside these issues can be made:“It ’s about the right development in the ripe property . For model , the development of marine renewable vigor is important to help us tackle the climate crisis but given we ’re also in a biodiversity crisis , it ’s important that we maximise clime change extenuation whilst minimising impacts to nature . ”
“ The number one affair is to reduce and limit pressure such as bottom link fishing , defilement , and developments , ” says Cunningham . It is estimated that the equivalent of3 % of global one-year glasshouse natural gas emissionscould be removed from the air by protecting and providing large - scale restoration of dispirited carbon habitats . “But success is n’t always guaranteed , ” Cunningham notes“so our penchant is protect existing entrepot ” .
The potential of restoration projects to offset carbon paper emissions has brought blue carbon copy to the attention of industries front to invest incarbon creditschemes . The manipulation of blue-blooded C credit is new , with the first voluntary blue atomic number 6 recognition being purchased in 2022 by aquaculture companyUrchinomicsfor a kelp restoration schema . But there are still many questions that need to be addressed through collaborations between research , governance , industry , investor , and community of interests voice . One of these interrogation is how to ensure the carbon copy is store farseeing - term , especially if other activity theindustries go along alongside thisoffset further exacerbate the climate crisis which would increase the likelihood of restore habitats becoming degraded through impact such as sea level boost or storm , at long last unlocking the atomic number 6 again .
Blue carbon is no longer a secret and with that , there is another reason to mourn the loss of these home ground . But with this noesis , we have also realize path to create good counselling and need to protect and restore these habitats . With the continue climate crisis we now just have to make the decision – do we carbon copy sinkhole or swim ?
