Building Blue Carbon Projects - An Introductory Guide

Coordination factors define roles and responsibilities across institutions. Typically the responsibility for Blue Carbon projects would lie within Environment Ministries, Protection Agencies, and corresponding sector ministries, such as Forestry and Fisheries Departments or Authorities. For Blue Carbon projects to succeed it would be generally advisable to develop projects in those countries where Agencies and Ministries have a successful implementation track record of environmental projects, especially those focusing on afforestation, reforestation and REDD/REDD+. Another activity central to effective institutional coordination is ensuring wide stakeholder participation in the drafting and project planning phase for Blue Carbon projects and ensuring that stakeholder lists are based on the people who are doing these activities Jurisdictional factors affect the allocation of institutional authority relative to provincial and or national boundaries. The institutional feasibility of Blue Carbon projects can be enhanced with a pre-eminent role for the national government in the establishment of jurisdictional boundaries regarding policymaking, master plan development, monitoring, and enforcement activities that affect Blue Carbon projects. Provincial or regional policy, though clearly important, can vary significantly from area to area. National policy, on the other hand, can be applied in a relatively standardised way throughout a country and address jurisdictions directly. As a starting point, project developers need to assess the jurisdictional boundaries and authorities related to Blue Carbon resources. Technical capacity factors reflect the scientific expertise within institutions to carry out any needed assessments. Blue carbon is a relatively new concept and not surprisingly, there is typically limited national technical capacity for estimating and valuing Blue Carbon ecosystems. Network building between developers and national institutions is one approach to build such capacity. That is, given the complexities involved and the early stage of Blue Carbon development, it would be generally advisable to engage with seasoned forest carbon project developers and or international NGOs that demonstrate a successful track record in bringing projects to completion, under either the regulatory or voluntary carbon markets. It is crucial to continually engage with institutional stakeholders throughout the entire project planning and implementation process. Project developers should convey to stakeholders the mandate for Blue Carbon activities and identify the appropriate authoritative bodies. Project developers should have an understanding of potential conflicts of interest between government agencies or others, along with a plan for addressing such issues. A good preliminary target for recognizing the value of Blue Carbon is to identify areas in existing policies and management where Blue Carbon may be easily incorporated. Key takeaways:

Building Blue Carbon Projects An Introductory Guide

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