WHAT IS BLUE CARBON?

According the Wikipedia, Blue Carbon is a carbon sequestation by the world's oceanic and coastal ecosystems, mostly by mangroves, seagrass, algae, salt marshes and other plants in the coastal wetlands.

Mangroves, like other coastal plants, are powerful carbon sinks. That is, they suck up carbon dioxide from the atmosphere to store it in their roots and branches, as well as the sediment around them.  They do this so well that they can store up to ten times more carbon than other ordinary trees.

And, unlike "green carbon" rainforests which store carbon in biomass and therefore release it when they died, mangroves store most of the carbon in the sediment around them. If undisturbed, it stays there for over a millennia.

This superpower means "Blue Carbon" is gaining attention in the race towards net zero carbon.

Therefore, protecting and restoring mangroves, seagrass and salt marshes ecosystems would help absorb the equivalent of as much as 1.4 million tonnes of carbon emissions a year.

Credits: The Guardian, seascape: the state of our oceans , and UNEP.