RAE Wetlands Carbon Blog

VCS Wetland Requirements posted for public comment

Steve Emmett-Mattox — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 14:52:55 +0100

The Verified Carbon Standard has posted the Wetlands Restoration and Conservation Requirements for a 60-day public comment period. This is a significant step forward to linking carbon finance with coastal wetlands restoration and conservation activities, as the draft requirements set out rules for crediting a range of wetland activities, adding the eligible activities in the Agriculture, Forestry and Other Land-Use sector. The public comment period lasts until June 23, 2012, and the requiremeRead More...

Restoration - Adaptation - Mitigation

Steve Emmett-Mattox — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 14:24:04 +0100

Restore America’s Estuaries (RAE) released a report today that for the first time links ecologically important coastal habitat restoration with adaptation and mitigation strategies as a way to reduce the impacts of ongoing global climate change. “Restore-Adapt-Mitigate: Responding to Climate Change through Coastal Habitat Restoration,” demonstrates that coastal wetland restoration—everything from restoring salt marshes, to protecting mangroves, and creating new coastal wetland habitats—can beRead More...

Using Wetlands Carbon to Improve Coastal Management

Steve Emmett-Mattox — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 15:04:28 +0100

Since January, I am one of the lucky few people who has twice heard Dr. Boone Kauffman of Oregon State University present his analysis of the carbon impact of shrimp farming on converted mangroves in southeast Asia.

His most recent talk at AAAS last week in Vancouver has been getting a lot of play this week, helping bring attention to an abhorrent practice in SE Asia and the associated climate change impacts - or the "Land Use Carbon Footprint" as he calls it.

Here's the rundoRead More...

Blue Carbon at European Parliament

Steve Emmett-Mattox — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 17:44:49 +0100

Today in Brussels, Belgium, Member of the European Parliament (MEP) Struan Stevenson chaired a symposium on "Blue Carbon – Managing coastal ecosystems for climate change mitigation.” MEP Stevenson is the Chair of the European Parliament (EP) Intergroup “Climate Change, Biodiversity and Sustainable Development.” The meeting was attended by 75 people, including MEPs, NGOs, the Directorate General for Environment and the Directorate General for Climate Action.

Pia Bucella, Director in DGRead More...

iPhone App for Blue Carbon

Steve Emmett-Mattox — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 16:51:28 +0100

How cool is this? Thanks to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), you can now calculate your carbon footprint, then see how much mangroves, salt marsh, or sea grasses it would take to offset your emissions on your iPhone. UNEP launched the application at the Eye on Earth summit in Abu Dhabi on December 13. It includes information about Blue Carbon, REDD Carbon, and how consumers can reduce their impacts on important ecosystems. Here's a description of the app.

This will cerRead More...

Radio Coverage and a Web Resource

Steve Emmett-Mattox — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 23:02:58 +0100

I wanted to share two recent radio stories relating to coastal blue carbon and a web resource.

On December 6 and 7, NPR aired a two-part story about California's climate law and "carbon farming" in the Sacramento - San Joaquin River Delta. Click here for the story.

On November 29, the Diane Rehm interviewed Kennedy Warne, a New Zealand marine biologist, about the loss of mangroves to shrimp farming. Coastal blue carbon is being proposed as an option to protect remaining mangroRead More...

Peer Reviewers Needed - VCS Wetland Requirements

Steve Emmett-Mattox — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 16:21:35 +0100

The Verified Carbon Standard Association is now seeking peer reviewers for the draft Wetlands Requirements. RAE has been leading the VCS Wetlands Technical Working Group, which includes: Steve Crooks with ESAPWA, Igino Emmer of Silvestrum, Pat Megonigal at Smithsonian Environmental Research Center, Boone Kauffman with Oregon State University, Carolyn Ching with VCSA and myself.

Here's the full text of the announcement:

The VCS Association is seeking Read More...

Integrating Blue Carbon into National and International Policies

Steve Emmett-Mattox — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 00:44:34 +0100

The International Blue Carbon Policy Working Group released its Blue Carbon Policy Framework today, which details a coordinated program of policy objectives and activities needed for the integration of blue carbon into existing initiatives.

Here is a summary from the report of the blue carbon policy objectives:

Integrate Blue Carbon activities fully into the international pRead More...

Durban Workshop - Managing Coastal Ecosystems for Climate Mitigation

Steve Emmett-Mattox — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 01:05:14 +0100

For those of you in Durban next week, I recommend a workshop being offered by IUCN and Duke University's Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions, "Managing Coastal Ecosystems for Climate Mitigation." The workshop is December 7th and is part of the Rio Conventions Pavillion.

From the flyer:

Coastal habitats worldwide are under increasing threat of destruction through human activities. This loss of habitat carries with it the loss of critical functions that coastalRead More...

San Francisco Bay Wetlands in Trouble

Steve Emmett-Mattox — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 00:48:12 +0100

A study released in November by PRBO Conservation Science concludes that in a worst-case scenario, 93% of San Franscisco Bay's tidal marsh will be inundated by sea level rise in 50-100 years, but that restoration can help mitigate these scenarios.

From a wetlands carbon perspective, this loss would be devastating - SF Bay's tidal marshes are excellent at sequestering carbon, and their soils contain hundreds of years of stored carbon, carbon that would be released if the wetlands are iRead More...

New Report - Financing Options for Blue Carbon

Steve Emmett-Mattox — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 00:25:43 +0100

Duke University's Nicholas Institute has released a new report, "Financing Options for Blue Carbon: Opportunities and Lessons from the REDD+ Experience."

From the executive summary:

"Human activities such as agriculture and aquaculture can degrade and destroy coastal habitats. When development pressures transform mangroves, seagrass, and coastal wetlands, carbon stored in their biomass and soil is released to the atmosphere as carbon dioxide (CO2). One way to counter these preRead More...

Human Impacts in Estuaries Damage Carbon Sink Potential

Steve Emmett-Mattox — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 00:10:48 +0100

A new research article in Global Change Biology, "Paleoreconstruction of estuarine sediments reveal human-induced weakening of coastal carbon sinks," reports that human impacts have reduced the carbon sink potential of coastal ecosystems.

"We have effectively gone back in time and monitored carbon capture and storage by coastal ecosystems, finding a 100-fold weakening in the ability of coastal ecosystems to sequester carbon since the time of European settlement. This severely hamperedRead More...

Gratitude and Growing Interest

Steve Emmett-Mattox — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 16:35:13 +0100

This post started off as a means to thank three organizations who have recently provided support to the Restore America’s Estuaries wetland carbon initiative: the State of Maryland Department of Natural Resources Power Plant Research Program, GenOn Energy, and America’s WETLAND Foundation. Thank you, and thanks to all of our partners who are helping advance coastal blue carbon.

It’s also a great opportunity to provide a snapshot of some of the wetlands carbon and blue carbon activitieRead More...

Storms, Tsunamis, Coastal Wetlands, and Carbon

Steve Emmett-Mattox — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 05:00:00 +0100

I was struck last week by two reports linking coastal habitat with storm and tsunami protection.

A report in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, “Influence of coastal vegetation on the 2004 tsunami wave impact in west Aceh” demonstrates that coastal vegetation in front of settlements would have reduced the death toll of the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami by 5% in the west coast of Aceh, Indonesia. Following the tsunami, public debate was critical of the earlier clearing of prRead More...

Another Benefit of Coastal Blue Carbon - JOBS

Steve Emmett-Mattox — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 05:00:00 +0100

Last month, Restore America’s Estuaries released Jobs & Dollars: BIG RETURNS from coastal habitat restoration.

Those of us engaged in coastal conservation are already aware of the tremendous ecological, economic, and ecosystem service benefits that healthy coasts and estuaries provide. And coastal managers and others following the wetlands carbon initiatives are aware of the interconnections between climate change, climate change impacts, and coastal wetlands restoration and prRead More...

Wetland Carbon Presentation in San Francisco

Steve Emmett-Mattox — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 01:32:27 +0100

Steve Crooks, Director of Climate Change Services for ESA PWA, and Steve Emmett-Mattox, Sr. Director of Strategic Planning and Programs for Restore America’s Estuaries, will be presenting at the Air and Waste Management Association’s Conference “Greenhouse Gas Strategies in a Changing Climate.” Their presentation will occur on Thursday, November 17 at 10:30 am at the Hyatt at Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco, CA, and is titled “Bringing Wetlands Projects to the Carbon Market: Establishing VRead More...

UN Agencies call for Blue Carbon Market

Steve Emmett-Mattox — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 21:01:06 +0100

In the same week, the U.S. Department of Energy released alarming figures showing that global greenhouse gas emissions increased 6% (564 million tons) from 2009 to 2010, four agencies of the United Nations called for a Blue Carbon Market as a means to protect and restore coastal habitat while creating direct economic gain. I learned about the emissions numbers here.

The timing may be coincidental, but the connection between increasing greenhouse gas emissions and the need to protect aRead More...

Wetlands Carbon - a Means to Slow Wetlands Loss

Steve Emmett-Mattox — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 13:48:17 +0100

A tag line in an email from a collague and friend caught my eye this week - "In the Eastern United States we're losing 59,000 acres of coastal wetlands each year - that's equal to 122 football fields a day."

When we lose those wetlands, we also lose both the carbon that has built up in the soil over centuries, and the carbon sequestration capacity of the wetland - it's a double whammy. And in fact it's worse than that, since coastal wetlands provide irreplaceable ecological, economic,Read More...

Grant Awarded for Carbon Management in Coastal Wetlands

Steve Emmett-Mattox — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 13:14:26 +0100

The Waquoit Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve (WBNERR) has been awarded a $1.3 million grant by the National Estuarine Research Reserve System (NERRS) Science Collaborative to examine the role that salt marshes play in climate change and the effect that nitrogen pollution has on that role. The three-year project will quantify how much carbon in the form of greenhouse gases (GHG) is stored and emitted from coastal wetlands, and how increases in nitrogen and changes in climate and sea levRead More...

Coastal Wetland Loss 2.4% in Five Years

Steve Emmett-Mattox — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 15:47:44 +0100

"Status and Trends of Wetlands in the Conterminous United States, 2004-2009," released October 6, 2011 by the United States Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS), reports the loss of 110,000 acres of coastal wetlands between 2004 and 2009. These wetlands store and sequester significant amounts of carbon, one of many critical ecosystem services they perform.

The report represents Read More...