Constraints and opportunities for market-based finance for the restoration and protection of blue carbon ecosystems

Vanderklift, Mathew A.; Marcos-Martínez, Raymundo; Butler, James; Coleman, Michael; Lawrence, Anissa; Prislan, Heidi; Steven, Andrew D. L.; Schierl, Thomas

doi:10.1016/j.marpol.2019.02.001

Cited by 98 publications

(68 citation statements)

References 27 publications

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“…For example, voluntary and regulatory financing frameworks that support the restoration of coastal blue carbon ecosystems, such as mangroves and seagrasses (Vanderklift et al 2019 ), can be extended to finance large-scale aquaculture plants that act as major carbon sequestration sites (and that generate carbon credit). The non-carbon co-benefits associated with offshore aquaculture plants, including food and bioenergy production, provide opportunity to attract investors and generate additional financial support (Vanderklift et al 2019 ). This opportunity is maximized when the aquaculture industry is efficiently linked to other industries, within an offshore platform context.…”

Section: Pathway Towards a More Sustainable Offshore Blue Economymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This opportunity is maximized when the aquaculture industry is efficiently linked to other industries, within an offshore platform context. As proposed for coastal systems, actions to generate the appropriate type and scale of financial investments include an analysis of the motivation of potential investors, the development of demonstration projects and linked risk management strategies, and a customization of the final product to meet the local environmental, socioeconomic, and regulatory context (Vanderklift et al 2019 ).…”

Section: Pathway Towards a More Sustainable Offshore Blue Economymentioning

confidence: 99%

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Deep aspirations: towards a sustainable offshore Blue Economy

Novaglio

Bax

Boschetti

et al. 2021

Rev Fish Biol Fisheries

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The ocean economy is experiencing rapid growth that will provide benefits but will also pose environmental and social risks. With limited space and degraded resources in coastal areas, offshore waters will be a particular focus of Blue Economy expansion over the next decade. When emerging and established economic sectors expand in offshore waters (within national Exclusive Economic Zones), different potential Blue Economy opportunities and challenges will arise. Following a series of interdisciplinary workshops, we imagine two technically possible futures for the offshore Blue Economy and we identify the actions required to achieve the more sustainable outcome. Under a business as usual scenario the focus will remain on economic growth, the commodification of nature, the dominance of private over public and cultural interests, and prioritisation of the interests of current over future generations. A more sustainable scenario would meet multiple UN Sustainable Development Goals and ensure inclusive economic developments, environmental sustainability, and fair and equitable access to resources and technologies across users, nations, and generations. Challenges to this more sustainable future are a lack of infrastructure and technology to support emerging offshore sectors, limited understanding of environmental impacts, inequitable outcomes, and a lack of planning and governmental oversight. Addressing these challenges will require a shift in societal values, a more balanced allocation of funding to offshore activities, transparency in information sharing between industries and across nations, and adjustment of international legal and institutional mechanisms. The sustainable and equitable offshore Blue Economy we envisage is achievable and provides a unique opportunity to build global capacity and partnership.

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Section: Pathway Towards a More Sustainable Offshore Blue Economymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Pathway Towards a More Sustainable Offshore Blue Economymentioning

confidence: 99%

Deep aspirations: towards a sustainable offshore Blue Economy

Novaglio

Bax

Boschetti

et al. 2021

Rev Fish Biol Fisheries

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“…Therefore, returning wetland conditions to previous floodplain water levels, in the short term, may reduce the GWP in degraded semi-arid wetlands in Australia. Further, carbon markets allow for carbon credits to be collected for avoided emissions (Vanderklift et al, 2019). The observed average emission reduction of 6.34 to 0.31 within the Aquatic Zone would equate to 22.8 tons of C ha −1 year −1 or 4.5 car's worth of carbon emissions per ha −1 year −1 (Vanderklift et al, 2019).…”

Section: Global Warming Potentialmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Further, carbon markets allow for carbon credits to be collected for avoided emissions (Vanderklift et al, 2019). The observed average emission reduction of 6.34 to 0.31 within the Aquatic Zone would equate to 22.8 tons of C ha −1 year −1 or 4.5 car's worth of carbon emissions per ha −1 year −1 (Vanderklift et al, 2019). Managers would theoretically be able to apply for carbon credits at a rate of $11.90 with a return of $271 ha −1 year −1 after applying environmental watering practices for carbon emission reduction potential.…”

Section: Global Warming Potentialmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reducing Emissions From Degraded Floodplain Wetlands

Limpert

Carnell

Trevathan-Tackett

et al. 2020

Front. Environ. Sci.

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Globally, freshwater wetlands are significant carbon sinks; however, altering a wetland's hydrology can reduce its ability to sequester carbon and may lead to the release of previously stored soil carbon. Rehabilitating a wetland's water table has the potential to restore the natural process of wetland soil carbon sequestration and storage. Further, little is known about the role of microbial communities that mediate carbon cycling during wetland rehabilitation practices. Here, we examined the carbon emissions and microbial community diversity during a wetland rehabilitation process known as "environmental watering" (rewetting) in an Australian, semi-arid freshwater floodplain wetland. By monitoring carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) and methane (CH 4 ) emissions during dry and wet phases of an environmental watering event, we determined that adding water to a degraded semi-arid floodplain wetland reduces carbon emissions by 28-84%. The watering event increased anoxic levels and plant growth in the aquatic zone of the wetland, which may correlate with lower carbon emissions during and after environmental watering due to lower anaerobic microbial decomposition processes and higher CO 2 sequestration by vegetation. During the watering event, areas with higher inundation had lower CO 2 emissions (5.15 ± 2.50 g CO 2 m −2 day −1 ) compared to fringe areas surrounding the wetland (11.89 ± 4.25 g CO 2 m −2 day −1 ). CH 4 flux was inversely correlated with CO 2 emissions during inundation periods, showing a 38% (0.013 ± 0.061 g CO 2 -e m −2 day −1 ) increase when water was present in the wetland. During the dry phases of environmental watering, there was CH 4 uptake within the fringe and aquatic zones (−0.013 ± 0.063 g CO 2 -e m −2 day −1 ). A clear succession of soil microbial community was observed during the dry-wet phases of the environmental watering process. This suggests that wetland hydrology plays a large role in the microbial community structure of these wetland ecosystems, and is consequently linked to CO 2 and CH 4 emissions. Overall, the total carbon emissions (CO 2 + CH 4 ) were reduced within the wetland during and after the environmental watering event, due to increasing vegetative growth and subsequent CO 2 sequestration. We, therefore, recommend environmental watering practices in this degraded arid wetland ecosystem to improve conditions for wetland carbon sequestration and storage. Further use of this management practice may improve wetland carbon storage across other arid freshwater wetland ecosystems with similar hydrologic regimes.

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“…As salt marsh restoration becomes increasingly intertwined with the carbon market (Crooks et al 2019;Vanderklift et al 2019), it becomes important to consider whether restoring salt marshes have the capacity to store carbon in their sediments, a function typically provided by mature "blue carbon" ecosystems (coastal ecosystems including salt marshes, mangroves, and seagrasses with atmospherically significant and manageable carbon stocks and fluxes; McLeod et al 2011;Duarte et al 2013;Windham-Myers et al 2019). However, little is currently known about the carbon storage potential of such novel transitional ecosystems (but see Drexler et al 2019), raising several important questions.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Carbon Sources in the Sediments of a Restoring vs. Historically Unaltered Salt Marsh

Drexler

Davis

Woo

et al. 2020

Estuaries and Coasts

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Salt marshes provide the important ecosystem service of carbon storage in their sediments; however, little is known about the sources of such carbon and whether they differ between historically unaltered and restoring systems. In this study, stable isotope analysis was used to quantify carbon sources in a restoring, sparsely vegetated marsh (Restoring) and an adjacent, historically unaltered marsh (Reference) in the Nisqually River Delta (NRD) of Washington, USA. Three sediment cores were collected at "Inland" and "Seaward" locations at both marshes~6 years after restoration. Benthic diatoms, C3 plants, C4 plants, and particulate organic matter (POM) were collected throughout the NRD. δ 13 C and δ 15 N values of sources and sediments were used in a Bayesian stable isotope mixing model to determine the contribution of each carbon source to the sediments of both marshes. Autochthonous marsh C3 plants contributed 73 ± 10% (98 g C m −2 year −1) and 89 ± 11% (119 g C m −2 year −1) to Reference-Inland and Reference-Seaward sediment carbon sinks, respectively. In contrast, the sediment carbon sink at the Restoring Marsh received a broad assortment of predominantly allochthonous materials, which varied in relative contribution based on source distance and abundance. Marsh POM contributed the most to Restoring-Seaward (42 ± 34%) (69 g C m −2 year −1) followed by Riverine POM at Restoring-Inland (32 ± 41%) (52 g C m −2 year −1). Overall, this study demonstrates that largely unvegetated, restoring marshes can accumulate carbon by relying predominantly on allochthonous material, which comes mainly from the most abundant and closest estuarine sources.

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Constraints and opportunities for market-based finance for the restoration and protection of blue carbon ecosystems

Cited by 98 publications

References 27 publications

Deep aspirations: towards a sustainable offshore Blue Economy

Deep aspirations: towards a sustainable offshore Blue Economy

Reducing Emissions From Degraded Floodplain Wetlands

Carbon Sources in the Sediments of a Restoring vs. Historically Unaltered Salt Marsh

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