Type
ArticleKAUST Department
Biological and Environmental Sciences and Engineering (BESE) DivisionMarine Science Program
Red Sea Research Center (RSRC)
Date
2019-03-06Online Publication Date
2019-03-06Print Publication Date
2019-03-29Permanent link to this record
http://hdl.handle.net/10754/631543
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
Blue Carbon is a term coined in 2009 to draw attention to the degradation of marine and coastal ecosystems and the need to conserve and restore them to mitigate climate change and for the other ecosystem services they provide. Blue Carbon has multiple meanings, which we aim to clarify here, which reflect the original descriptions of the concept including (1) all organic matter captured by marine organisms, and (2) how marine ecosystems could be managed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and thereby contribute to climate change mitigation and conservation. The multifaceted nature of the Blue Carbon concept has led to unprecedented collaboration across disciplines, where scientists, conservationists and policy makers have interacted intensely to advance shared goals. Some coastal ecosystems (mangroves, tidal marshes and seagrass) are established Blue Carbon ecosystems as they often have high carbon stocks, support long-term carbon storage, offer the potential to manage greenhouse gas emissions and support other adaptation policies. Some marine ecosystems do not meet key criteria for inclusion within the Blue Carbon framework (e.g. fish, bivalves and coral reefs). Others have gaps in scientific understanding of carbon stocks or greenhouse gas fluxes, or currently there is limited potential for management or accounting for carbon sequestration (macroalgae and phytoplankton), but may be considered Blue Carbon ecosystems in the future, once these gaps are addressed.Citation
Lovelock CE, Duarte CM (2019) Dimensions of Blue Carbon and emerging perspectives. Biology Letters 15: 20180781. Available: http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2018.0781.Sponsors
Funding was provided by the Red Sea Research Center, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Thuwal, Saudi Arabia.Publisher
The Royal SocietyJournal
Biology LettersAdditional Links
https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsbl.2018.0781Relations
Is Supplemented By:- [Dataset]
Lovelock, C. E., & Duarte, C. M. (2019). Supplementary material from "Dimensions of Blue Carbon and emerging perspectives". Figshare. https://doi.org/10.6084/M9.FIGSHARE.C.4407680.V1. DOI: 10.6084/m9.figshare.c.4407680.v1 Handle: 10754/664798
ae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.1098/rsbl.2018.0781
Scopus Count
Except where otherwise noted, this item's license is described as Published by the Royal Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/, which permits unrestricted use, provided the original author and source are credited.