The term Blue Carbon was first described nearly 15 years ago, initially to represent the carbon that was removed from the atmosphere by marine organisms, and as biologically driven carbon fluxes and storage in marine systems that are amenable to management.

This webinar will describe the Coastal Blue Carbon Ecosystems (CBCE) of mangroves, saltmarshes and seagrass meadows, covering their role in climate mitigation and the other ecosystem services they provide. Human activities are damaging and destroying CBCE, resulting in the emission of greenhouses gases (GHG) to the atmosphere and hence the need to conserve, protect and restore them. CBCE can be termed 'actionable' as they are included in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) guidance for greenhouse gas accounting. Other coastal and marine ecosystems are termed 'emerging', as they need further scientific evidence about their capacity to reduce GHG emission or enhance removals and how this can be managed.

This event has been organised in collaboration with the UK Blue Carbon Forum as part of our Turning the Tide: systems thinking for a sustainable ocean project, which has been endorsed as a UN Ocean Decade Activity. Join our dedicated mailing list to stay up to date on future project activities and hear about ways to collaborate.  

Introduction to the UK Blue Carbon Forum

The UK Blue Carbon Forum is a community of leading experts and stakeholders working together to promote blue carbon conservation and restoration in the UK. Their goal is to channel emerging blue carbon evidence into policy, and raise the ambition of blue carbon in the UK. The Forum hosts quarterly meetings, which provide an opportunity for members to share blue carbon updates and best-practices, and discuss the latest research and areas of work in the field. Find out more about the Forum on their website. 

Our speaker

Hilary Kennedy is emeritus professor at the School of Ocean Sciences, Bangor University. She is a biogeochemist whose research focuses on wetland carbon cycling and greenhouse gas emissions and removals, with particular interest in coastal ecosystems and their role in mitigating climate change. She was the leading author of the Coastal Wetlands chapter in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories: Wetlands. She is a member of the Blue Carbon Initiative Scientific Working Group and chairs the UK Blue Carbon Forum.

The event is free to attend and open to all.