About the project

Ocean and coastal marine systems play a significant role in the global carbon cycle, representing the largest long-term sink of C. Ireland has two blue carbon (BC) habitats; saltmarsh and seagrass meadows, and a vast marine territory containing potential BC systems, such as C-rich macroalgae, maërl, cold water corals, phytoplankton and sediments. Specifically for Ireland, there is a paucity of data on the C storage capacity of these ecosystems, and a lack of coherent management strategies hampers the ability to integrate these ecosystems into climate policy frameworks.

This project is funded by Marine Institute under Blue Carbon Call 2021.

The overarching aim of BlueC is to advance scientific understanding of the C dynamics in Irish coastal and marine environments, whilst simultaneously improving management and harnessing their potential for climate mitigation, adaptation and other ecosystem services to underpin policy development.

Cross-cutting work packages will be carried out by the multidisciplinary team focusing on: C stocks and sequestration rates in seagrasses; carbon provenance and C fluxes in saltmarshes; an assessment of the extent of BC habitats; establishment of a long-term monitoring site for saltmarsh and seagrasses enabling experimental manipulation of climate change factors; a detailed evaluation of “potential” BC ecosystems and hotspots; a quantification of the socio-economic, biodiversity and coastal protection relevance of BC habitats; and development of long-term management strategies for BC habitats in line with existing and future legislative mechanisms.

Engagement with stakeholders will be a key goal throughout this project in addition to building national capacity for BC research across disciplines. A key deliverable from this project will be a validated national inventory of the C storage capacity of BC habitats which will enable inclusion in National Inventory Greenhouse Gas reporting to the UNFCCC.

Moreover, through improved management of BC ecosystems this project will assist Ireland and the EU in meeting climate change objectives, thus realising significant benefits for society.