Global potential and limits of mangrove blue carbon for climate change mitigation

Mangroves could benefit from blue carbon credits

30 September 2021

Carbon financing could protect around a fifth of global mangrove forests.

Blue-carbon schemes pay countries to protect their coastal environments that store significant amounts of carbon. Yet efforts to protect mangroves, one of the most carbon-dense vegetated ecosystems worldwide, have been limited.

Now, researchers at the National University of Singapore have mapped global mangroves and identified roughly 20% of this vital habitat that could be protected from deforestation by blue carbon credits.

The team assessed the profitability of such projects if carbon cost US$5 per tonne, and found that nearly 10% of mangroves could be sustainably protected for three decades.

Blue carbon credits could help several tropical coastal countries move towards their climate change goals, but further interventions are needed to protect the majority of mangroves from future threats.

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References

1. Current Biology 31, 1737–1743 (2021). doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2021.01.070