Carbon sequestration in BLUe EcoSystems
C-BLUES will significantly advance knowledge and understanding of blue carbon ecosystems (BCEs) seagrasses, tidal marshes,
mangroves, macroalgae, and macroalgae mariculture aiming to achieve three overarching objectives: 1) develop new scientific
knowledge within BCEs to reduce scientific uncertainty and improve reporting of blue carbon under the United Nations Framework
Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), 2) provide input to a possible revision of the 2013 IPCC Wetlands Supplement to increase
inclusion of coastal wetlands in national greenhouse gas (GHG) inventories and reporting, 3) raise awareness and promote the role of
blue carbon for delivering global climate policy commitments in collaboration with Chinese and other international partners. C-BLUES
will perform the following: produce spatial maps, methodological best practices and standard operating procedures; enable more
robust and reliable quantification of carbon emissions and sequestration; model sequestration capacity and upscale regional and
global GHG budgets; assess carbon stock changes, GHG emissions and removals related to different management interventions and
human activities; review legal and institutional frameworks governing BCEs; and assess the drivers and barriers for integrating coastal
wetlands into national reporting mechanisms under the UNFCCC. C-BLUES will target the following Mission Ocean Lighthouse Areas
(LA): LA Atlantic/Arctic, LA Baltic and North Sea, and LA Mediterranean Sea. The Black Sea, Dutch Antilles, and through collaboration
with China, the Southern China coast will also be covered. C-BLUES will engage with the scientific community, climate and coastal
policy makers and the wider civil society to disseminate the knowledge generated, raise awareness of BCEs and build capacity for blue
carbon research inclusion. C-BLUES will effectively impact national and international climate policy work so that BCEs more
prominently are included in reporting and management actions.