NOAA blue carbon inventory project briefing sheet released

Mangroves count among key blue carbon ecosystems. Credit: NOAA Blue Carbon Inventory

CPO has developed a briefing sheet for the newly launched NOAA Blue Carbon Inventory (BCI) Project. The project will harness the expertise of multiple U.S. agencies and partners to advance the development of tools, approaches, and capacity for integrating coastal blue carbon, such as seagrasses and mangroves, in the preparation of national greenhouse gas inventories (NGGI) in select developing countries.

Countries are striving to meet international obligations to report national greenhouse gas inventories of emissions and sinks to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. In the follow up to the Paris Climate Agreement, Parties established the Enhanced Transparency Framework (ETF) to strengthen reporting on national progress made, including mitigation efforts. Under the ETF, Parties are updating their NGGI reporting, with the aim by 2024 to be based upon the most recent guidance, including that of the 2013 IPCC Supplement to the 2006 Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories: “Wetlands” (the Wetlands Supplement). While coastal wetlands or “blue carbon” (mangroves, tidal marshes, and seagrasses) play a significant role in the storage and sequestration of greenhouse gases, they are particularly challenging to include in inventories, and so far only a few countries, including the United States, have done so.

Read more at the link below.