Not only forests store CO2 – also aquatic plants do so. Seagrass beds store 10 percent of the oceans’ total carbon dioxide as blue carbon. IMAGE: WIKIMEDIA COMMONS (The fish is a jackfish.)

That’s how important blue carbon is

If you’re curious about the important role blue carbon plays in mitigating climate change, here are 8 facts we gathered from the Blue Carbon Initiative:

1. Blue carbon is carbon dioxide (CO2) stored by ecosystems in the oceans.
2. About half of these carbon stores are found in coastal habitats, even though they cover only about 2 percent of the ocean’s surface.
3. The initiative focuses on three ecosystems: mangroves, marshes and seagrass beds.
4. Mangroves are disappearing at a rate of 2 percent per year. Mangrove forests are cleared for shrimp fishing, for example.
5. Marshlands are declining at a rate of 1 to 2 percent per year. That doesn’t sound like much, but they have already lost 50 percent of their original area.
6. Seagrass beds cover only 0.2 percent of the ocean floor, but they store about 10 percent of all the CO2 in the oceans. Seagrass meadows are where you’ll find manatees, for example. Seagrass beds are declining at a rate of about 1.5 percent per year.
7. Coastal ecosystems serve other important functions. They provide critical habitat for many aquatic animals and migratory birds.
8. Several factors are responsible for the decline of coastal ecosystems. Among the main causes are ocean warming (climate change) and marine pollution.

If you want to take action, you can offset your CO2 emissions with a blue carbon climate project. In addition to protecting carbon stores, it is important that we produce less CO2.