Blue carbon :
What scope for mitigation projects currently?
09 juin 2015, Paris
Coastal ecosystems play a key role as major carbon sink but this function has only recently received attention in negotiations under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Given the existing scientific body of knowledge, the scope for scaling-up projects to achieve significant mitigation policies, the extent of political support and the existing institutional frameworks, what projects can be currently implemented in blue carbon and to which extent such projects are relevant alternative tools for climate change mitigation? Can we develop a country-taxonomy to prioritise action and which precise factors should be considered to develop such taxonomy? Should blue carbon mechanisms be used as a means of identifying priority targets to support avoided emissions or for ecosystem restoration? Which international and national mechanisms can best support blue carbon to develop solutions in the short--term? What are the synergies and trade-offs between blue carbon and climate change adaptation? Under which conditions are there synergies between climate change adaptation programs and the protection and restoration of blue carbon habitats, such that undesired side--effects are avoided? Are there any other obstacles that might hinder the integration of adaptation and mitigation actions on blue carbon? What are the options for a more balanced distribution of funding between adaptation and mitigation funds in developing countries, given that blue carbon mitigation mechanisms are just being developed and that there are synergies between coastal mitigation and adaptation programs? Should marine-specific governance and socio-economic factors play a role on the prioritisation of the allocation of funds? Should such information instead, be collected ex-post once an area has been selected for project implementation and following which procedure? If the latter, should there be any need in sum, to foster worldwide data collection ex-ante on marine-specific governance and socio-economic factors on a global scale to inform blue carbon project appraisal?
The UMR Amure, Center for the Law and Economics of the Sea, University of West Brittany in Brest, with the support of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Development and the Aquarium de la Porte Dorée seeks to address some of these questions through the organisation of this seminar to feed in UNFCCC COP21 negociations.
Agenda and presentations
PDF to download
Blue Carbon Co-Benefits
Dr. Tundi Agardy, Director, Marine Ecosystem Services (MARES) Program, Forest Trends
Economics of Coastal Blue Carbon
Linwood Pendleton, International Chaire of Excellence, IUEM, AMURE, UBO, LABEX MER
The Science of Blue Carbon
Stephen Crooks Ph.D., Environmental Science Associates and Blue Carbon Initiative
Blue Carbon Accounting Protocols
Igino Emmer PhD, Silvestrum
Coastal Blue Carbon in the policy context of the UNFCCC and beyond
Dorothée Herr, GMPP, IUCN
