WHAT ARE CARBON SINKS?

A carbon sink is anything that absorbs more carbon dioxide from the atmosphere than it releases. Natural Carbon Sinks are extremely important in keeping a balance and in preventing Climate change, but they have a natural limit of how much they can absorb. In the ocean, this can lead to ocean Acidification.

Forest and ocean carbon sinks must be protected. In addition, we cannot delay action in reducing fossil fuel emissions. Carbon absorbed by trees is dynamic. Forest carbon moves between the atmosphere (as carbon dioxide) and the tree (as carbon) in a continuous cycle, known as the forest carbon cycle.

Carbon stored in fossil fuel is static, remaining trapped outside the atmosphere for thousands of years. This means that forests can never cancel out or ‘offset’ emissions from fossil sources.

Dive into PNAS’ article from September 2021, Opinion: We Need Biosphere Stewardship That Protects Carbon Sinks and Builds Resilience. “Earth’s biosphere, its extraordinary and complex web of species and ecosystems on land and in the oceans, drives the life-sustaining cycles of water and other materials that enable all life on Earth to thrive. The biosphere is also a principal driver of immense negative feedback loops in the Earth system that stabilize atmospheric CO2 concentrations and thereby global climate—including carbon sequestration by vegetation, soils, and the oceans. As such, Earth’s ecosystems have played a central role in keeping our planet’s climate system unusually stable throughout the last 11,700 years.” Today, ocean and land ecosystems remove around 50% of anthropogenic CO2 emissions from the atmosphere each year.

WHAT IS BLUE CARBON?

Coastal Blue Carbon is the carbon stored by and sequestered in tidal wetlands, mangroves, and seagrass meadows.

• Blue carbon ecosystems remove 10 times more CO2 per hectare from the atmosphere than forest.

• Wetlands primarily store carbon in the soils, where it can remain for centuries.

• Drained and degraded coastal wetlands can release this stored carbon back into the atmosphere.

Protection and Restoration of these coastal ecosystems bring many benefits:

• Carbon storage which is crucial to climate change mitigation

• improved water quality

• critical marine habitat

• increased resiliency against storm damage and flood

To learn more about the science, Blue Carbon Markets, regulations, webinars and workshops go to BlueCarbon.us.