Blue Carbon in Coastal Wetlands: Climate Mitigation, Adaptation, and Restoration Priorities
Context: Coastal wetlands, including mangroves, salt marshes, and seagrass meadows, store large quantities of organic carbon in waterlogged soils and sediments. Although they occupy a small fraction of Earth’s surface, their carbon density and rapid burial rates make them relevant to climate mitigation and coastal adaptation. Findings: Evidence shows that intact blue carbon ecosystems sequester carbon over centuries, reduce emissions by avoiding soil disturbance, buffer shorelines from storms, and support fisheries and biodiversity. However, global losses from land conversion, hydrological alteration, pollution, and sea-level rise continue to release stored carbon and weaken resilience. Restoration can recover carbon accumulation, but outcomes vary with site selection, sediment supply, governance, and long-term protection. Implications: Blue carbon is not a substitute for fossil-fuel decarbonisation. It is a complementary, place-based climate solution whose credibility depends on permanence, social safeguards, ecological integrity, and robust carbon accounting.
Introduction
Blue carbon refers to carbon captured and stored by coastal and marine ecosystems, especially mangrove forests, tidal salt marshes, and seagrass meadows. These systems are now prominent in climate policy because they combine three properties that are uncommon in land-based mitigation: high carbon density in soils, long-term burial under low-oxygen conditions, and direct protection of coastal communities from climate hazards [1], [2].
The term can be misunderstood. Blue carbon is not simply the annual growth of coastal vegetation. Its climate value lies mainly in the accumulation and preservation of organic carbon in saturated soils and sediments, where decomposition is…
Unlock the full research paper
Full text, findings, discussion and every reference — plus every past & future paper — comes with your Grower subscription to Climate Plant Analyser.