Building Blue Carbon Projects - An Introductory Guide

1.6 Status of Blue Carbon Policy

The development of Blue Carbon policies is relatively recent, with few countries currently having detailed laws and regulations in place to promote the evaluation of environmental services or payments for such services in marine and coastal regions (Climate Focus, 2011) 1 . In general terms, the promotion of Blue Carbon policies is likely to be most effective within the broader context of support for marine spatial planning and ecosystem-based management. Several countries and states are at the forefront of such approaches, including Australia, Belize, Vanuatu, and British Columbia in Canada. Valuable lessons can be learned from their experiences. While international Blue Carbon policies may emerge in the future, there is currently considerable scope for improving the ability to assess the value of Blue Carbon ecosystem services and to report on these at the national level within the framework of the IPCC requirements. Thus, there is a need for policies that support research on such data information and analysis, and engagement with the IPCC to clarify how best to include Blue Carbon ecosystems within the associated national reporting requirements going forward. In the short- to medium-term, for those seeking to promote Blue Carbon initiatives with reference to international regulatory frameworks, it is likely to be more productive to do so by including Blue Carbon ecosystems within the development of Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions (NAMAs) and or reduced emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, including the role of conservation, sustainable forest management, and the enhancement of forest carbon stocks (REDD+), given that both approaches are already making good progress in multiple country settings. NAMAs can encompass all Blue Carbon ecosystems, including seagrasses, while REDD+ is limited to mangroves that meets national forest definitions. Where the potential for using a REDD+ approach is applicable, a precursor is the development of a policy that includes mangroves within such national definitions, where appropriate. In many circumstances, it is likely to be more effective to include support for the reduced emissions from mangrove forests within a broader jurisdictional approach, rather than project by project. This approach, referred  to  as  “jurisdictional nested  REDD”  (JNR), is generating considerable interest on the part of several important climate change actors. Under either a NAMA or REDD+ approach it should be possible for developing countries to seek access  to  so  called  “Fast  Start  Finance”  to  support  a  range  of  readiness  activities  and  or  to   implement pilot activities. Blue Carbon projects can also be promoted with reference to international voluntary carbon markets, where several existing standards and methodologies already include the conservation, avoided deforestation and conversion, and restoration of such ecosystems.

1 Note that the text in this section is a summary of the key messages described in Blue Carbon Policy Options Assessment (Climate Focus, 2011).

Building Blue Carbon Projects An Introductory Guide

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