Ireland has two blue carbon ecosystems; saltmarsh (100 square km) and seagrass meadows (62 square km) and a vast marine territory containing ‘potential’ blue carbon systems. It is, therefore, critical that Ireland can leverage the carbon sequestration potential of its marine resource, ensuring it is appropriately managed to continue functioning as a carbon sink and that no additional carbon sources are created through mismanagement.

In addition to the Paris Climate Agreement there are now a number of international and national policy drivers and mechanisms that have increased pressure on Ireland to effectively manage its blue carbon resource in order to achieve climate targets. These include the Convention on Biological Diversity (Aichi Target 11 and 15); UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs 13 and 14), the European Green Deal and the EU Biodiversity Strategy 2030. Furthermore, Ireland’s Climate Action Plan sets ambitious targets for reducing Ireland’s greenhouse gas emissions by an average 7% per annum over the years 2021-2030, which equates to a reduction of 51% over the decade. The National Marine Planning Framework, Ireland’s first maritime spatial plan, also recognises the C sink potential of the marine environment, and outlines how this should guide the effective development and expansion of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs), an issue under policy development at the moment with a view to introducing new national MPA legislation in the coming year.

For Ireland to progress to utilising its BC resource to achieve climate targets there are a number of key scientific, technical, socio-economic and regulatory questions that remain unanswered:

• What is the nature, scale, extent and dynamics of Irish BCEs?

• How do these ecosystems respond to threats including climate change?

• To what degree do pBCEs sequester C over long periods of time?

• What is the socioeconomic and biodiversity value of these ecosystems?

• How can these ecosystems be effectively protected and managed to enhance carbon sequestration?

• To what degree can these ecosystems enable Ireland to meet its climate targets?