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Blue Carbon Initiative

Website:

thebluecarboninitiative.org
Type:

International Conservation Network
Formation:

2015
Director:

Stephen Crooks

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The Blue Carbon Initiative is a joint effort by several organizations focused on using preservation of wetlands and marshes around the world as a means towards carbon sequestration. Co-organizers of the Blue Carbon Initiative, beginning in 2015, include the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO, Conservation International, and the International Union for Conservation of Nature. 1

Because of the size of blue carbon regions worldwide and their potential to store carbon, blue carbon represents a lucrative new potential market for carbon credits, 2 and prominent leaders of the Blue Carbon Initiative have expertise in the financing of conservation efforts. 3

Structure

The Blue Carbon Initiative is organized around two groups, the Scientific Working Group, and the Policy Working Group, both of which work together to advance the organization’s goals of preserving and expanding protections of coastal wetlands. The focus of the organization is on “mangroves, tidal marshes and seagrasses.” 4

Scientific Working Group

The Blue Carbon Initiative’s Scientific Working Group was founded in 2011 and provides the research upon which the organization bases its efforts. 5 The Scientific Working Group created a manual designed to standardize recommendations for “carbon measurements and analysis” called the Blue Carbon Manual. 6

The Scientific Working Group also co-founded and supports the Coastal Carbon Research Coordination Network, also known as the Coastal Carbon Network, a group of scientists from various backgrounds and fields whose work focuses on “providing our community with access to data, analysis tools, and synthesis opportunities” to advance “wetland carbon science.” 7

Policy Working Group

Also founded in 2011, the Policy Working Group takes the scientific research of the Scientific Working Group and seeks to implement them into government and corporate policy and to create a scientific community around blue carbon-related issues. Furthermore, the group seeks to create “financial incentives where needed,” provide “economic analysis,” and identify “necessary partnerships.” Members of the group are not listed on the organizational website as the group is “currently re-launching.” 8

Issues

Blue Carbon is defined as “biologically driven carbon fluxes and storage in marine systems that are amenable to management.” 9 This is an example of Nature-based Solutions (NbS) to the idea of man-made climate change, with the goal being to preserve and expand coastal and other wetland areas for the purpose of absorbing and storing carbon. 10

Blue carbon offers a potential expansive and lucrative market for carbon credits and offsetting efforts. 11 With claims that blue carbon regions like mangroves can store four to ten times as much carbon dioxide as rainforests, the potential for an offsetting credits market is vast. 12

Alliances

The Global Mangrove Alliance

The Blue Carbon Initiative is listed as an organization that works closely with the Global Mangrove Alliance in a 2021 strategy paper outlining their alliance roadmap. 13

Conservation International

Conservation International is listed as a Coordinating Partner of the Blue Carbon Initiative. The co-chair of Blue Carbon Initiative’s Scientific Working Group is also vice president of ocean science and innovation at Conservation International. 14

International Union for Conservation of Nature

The Blue Carbon Initiative lists the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as one of its Coordinating Partners. 15 The IUCN is the oldest and largest international conservation group. The IUCN has been criticized in the past for “greenwashing” corporations and placing its environmental objects ahead of local communities. 16

The organization has undergone a shift in strategic focus in recent years, going away from displacement of indigenous communities and towards working with businesses more and Nature-based Solutions (NbS), the latter focus aligning more with the Blue Carbon Initiative’s focus. 17

People

Scientific Working Group

Members of the Scientific Working Group include over 20 scientists with backgrounds from various fields of research and expertise, including radar science, geophysics, biogeochemistry, wetland ecology, land use, mangrove ecosystem management, and other disciplines. 18 The co-chairs of International Blue Carbon Initiative Scientific Working Group are Stephen Crooks and Emily Pidgeon. 19

Stephens Crooks is the co-chair of the Scientific Working Group at Blue Carbon Iniitiative. Crooks also works as principal of Wetland Science and Coastal Management at Silvestrum Climate Associates, a scientific consulting firm that works on issues related to climate change policy and financing for their initiatives. Crooks is also the co-founder of Silverstrum Climate Associates. 20 Crooks has also worked at the NASA Carbon Monitoring System, and on the Steering Committee for the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN). 21

In addition to being co-chair of the Scientific Working Group, Pidgeon is vice president of Ocean Science and Innovation at Conservation International. 22

Policy Working Group

Members and leaders of the Policy Working Group are not listed on the organization’s website, but instead, as of March 2024, the following information was given: “The Policy Working Group is currently re-launching.” 23

References

  1.  [1] “Blue Carbon.” Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission. Accessed March 12, 2024. https://www.ioc.unesco.org/en/blue-carbon#:~:text=The%20Blue%20Carbon%20Initiative%20(BCI,use%20of%20coastal%20blue%20carbon.
  2. L, Jennifer. “Oman’s Mangrove Restoration Could Generate $150 Million in Carbon Credits.” Carbon Credits, November 2, 2023. https://carboncredits.com/omans-mangrove-restoration-could-generate-150-million-in-carbon-credits/.
  3. “The Team: Silvestrum Climate Associates.” Silvestrum. Accessed March 12, 2024. https://www.silvestrum.com/the-team.
  4.  Herr, Dorothée. “National Blue Carbon Policy Assessment Framework.” IUCN. Accessed March 12, 2024. https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5c7463aaa9ab95163e8c3c2e/t/5cc29d6c4192024d631936b1/1556258165395/National-Blue-Carbon-Policy-FINAL.pdf.
  5. “Scientific Working Group.” The Blue Carbon Initiative. Accessed March 12, 2024. https://www.thebluecarboninitiative.org/scientific-working-group.
  6. “Blue Carbon Manual.” The Blue Carbon Initiative. Accessed March 12, 2024. https://www.thebluecarboninitiative.org/manual.
  7. “Coastal Carbon Network.” Smithsonian Environmental Research Center, September 13, 2023. https://serc.si.edu/coastalcarbon.
  8. “Policy Working Group.” The Blue Carbon Initiative. Accessed March 12, 2024. https://www.thebluecarboninitiative.org/policy-working-group.
  9.  [1]“Annex VII: Glossary. In Climate Change 2021: The Physical Science Basis.” IPCC, 2021. https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg1/downloads/report/IPCC_AR6_WGI_AnnexVII.pdf.
  10.  Chalastani, Vanesa. “Nature-Based Solutions: Blue Carbon.” KAPSARC. Accessed March 31, 2024. https://www.cceguide.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Nature_Based_Solutions_Blue_Carbon.pdf.
  11. L, Jennifer. “Oman’s Mangrove Restoration Could Generate $150 Million in Carbon Credits.” Carbon Credits, November 2, 2023. https://carboncredits.com/omans-mangrove-restoration-could-generate-150-million-in-carbon-credits/.
  12. Erickson-Davis, Morgan. “New Study Finds Mangroves May Store Way More Carbon than We Thought.” Mongabay Environmental News, May 3, 2018. https://news.mongabay.com/2018/05/new-study-finds-mangroves-may-store-way-more-carbon-than-we-thought/.
  13. “Strategy – Global Mangrove Alliance.” Global Mangrove Alliance. Accessed March 12, 2024. https://www.mangrovealliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Global-Mangrove-Alliance-Roadmap-2021.pdf.
  14. “Senior Staff.” Conservation International. Accessed March 12, 2024. https://www.conservation.org/about/senior-staff.
  15. “Partners.” The Blue Carbon Initiative. Accessed March 12, 2024. https://www.thebluecarboninitiative.org/partners.
  16. Bassey, Nnimmo. “IUCN Attempts to Greenwash Shell with Flawed Report on Oil Disaster in Ogoniland.” Intercontinental Cry, September 18, 2013. https://intercontinentalcry.org/iucn-attempts-greenwash-shell-flawed-report-oil-disaster-ogoniland/.
  17. “Nature-Based Solutions to Address Global Societal Challenges.” IUCN Library System, 2016. https://portals.iucn.org/library/node/46191.
  18. “Scientific Working Group.” The Blue Carbon Initiative. Accessed March 12, 2024. https://www.thebluecarboninitiative.org/scientific-working-group.
  19. “Scientific Working Group.” The Blue Carbon Initiative. Accessed March 12, 2024. https://www.thebluecarboninitiative.org/scientific-working-group.
  20. “The Team: Silvestrum Climate Associates.” Silvestrum. Accessed March 12, 2024. https://www.silvestrum.com/the-team.
  21. “Steve Crooks – Silvestrum Climate Associates, LLC.” LinkedIn. Accessed March 12, 2024. https://www.linkedin.com/in/steve-crooks-577a7b8.
  22.  “Emily Pidgeon – Conservation International.” LinkedIn. Accessed March 12, 2024. https://www.linkedin.com/in/emily-pidgeon-99a68010.
  23. “Policy Working Group.” The Blue Carbon Initiative. Accessed March 12, 2024. https://www.thebluecarboninitiative.org/policy-working-group.
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