The Blue Carbon Initiative
By Marianne de Nazareth
26 February, 2010
Countercurrents.org
Nusa Dua Bali, Indonesia Feb 25, 2010: New areas seem to be opening in order to save the planet from global warming and galloping carbon emissions. Here in the beautiful island of Bali the Minister of Marine Affairs and Fisheries, Dr. Fadel Muhammad and the Executive Director of the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) Dr. Achim Steiner launched a joint Blue Carbon initiative to emphasize the important role being played by marine and coastal ecosystems in being carbon sinks. UNEP in cooperation with the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the United Nations Education and Science Organization ( UNESCO) have introduced this new concept of Blue Carbon. The areas where this is possible is with marine vegetation like mangrove forests, sea-grass, brackish marshes and salt marshes. This together with terrestrial forests could help to sequester carbon in large quantities.
According to the Minister of Marine Affairs and Fisheries, Dr. Fadel Muhammad Blue Carbon promises a solution for a blue planet and especially Indonesia which boasts of 92,000 km of coastline which is second only to Canada. “ The award given by UNEP in recognition of Indonesia’s leading role in spearheading this movement, to our President Dr. H. Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, is not as he said just to him as a person but to the whole country of Indonesia and its people to encourage the preservation of oceans.”
Mr Archim Stenier the UNEP Executive Director said that the blue carbon was a mix of the colour blue signifying oceans and the cutting on carbon emissions and how we should cope with the issue in the foreseeable future. Given the slow link between the delinking of carbon and economics we will have to rely more and more on carbon capture and sequestration in our eco systems done by nature. We humans should turn nature’s natural systems into assets. What is underestimated is the power of the worlds oceans to store more carbon in marine ecosystems rather than terrestrial ones. Marine organisms from Plankton, Mangroves, Sea Grasses and salt marshes are the more efficient than terrestrial ecosystems. These consist of 1 % of the sea bed where carbon can be stored. Just like terrestrial systems have been destroyed on the land, in the last decade ecosystems have been destroyed in the oceans. From 1940 over 30% of Mangroves and 30% of Sea grass meadows and 20% of salt marshes have been lost in the name of development. Along with that 50% of the worlds wetlands have been lost while we humans ramp up carbon emissions. Now we have to link different ways to mitigate and adapt to focus on an urgent answer to get rid of this excess carbon both by blue and Green carbon efforts. Mr Steiner said this joint Blue Carbon Initiative will draw the world’s attention to the role of oceans in this fight.
Dr Steiner and Dr Fadel jointly emphasized that the basis of their joint statement was the mandate of the Manado Ocean Declaration (MOD) declared in 2009. “ We appeal to all countries to preserve this capacity of the oceans to help control and mitigate Climate Change. If the world is to decisively deal with climate change, every source of emissions and every option to reduce these should be scientifically evaluated and brought to the attention of the international community that should include all the colours of carbon including Blue Carbon which is linked to marine and coastal ecosystems. ”
Marianne de Nazareth
Media Fellow with UNEP reporting from Bali
