Stories and Solutions: GRID-Arendal Annual Report 2015

Oceanic Blue Carbon Initiaitive GRID-Arendal developed an “Oceanic Blue Carbon” initiative to answer the UN’s call for innovative solutions to address the climate change challenge and prevent global biodiversity loss. This initiative focuses on the potential role that all marine life – from large vertebrates, such as whales, sharks and tuna to smaller invertebrates, such as krill and squid – can play in reducing the effects of climate change. These animals fix carbon in surface waters and transport it to deep waters through multiple carbon-related processes. In November, GRID-Arendal was invited to present this concept at the Global Ocean Commission’s High Seas Meeting. New proposals are being developed and funding has been secured from the Abu Dhabi Global Environment Initiative (AGEDI) for an educational video to be produced in 2016. Extract from an email from the Kinship Foundation, June 2015, regarding the webinar Blue Carbon and Beyond: Linking Marine Ecosystem Services with Markets and Decision-Making “Just wanted to quickly say thank you – the content was rich, interesting, and engaging. […] I really hope that we’ll have another chance to collaborate soon! I enjoyed it immensely!”

Photo: Clinton Climate Initiative

Reports and Publications GRID-Arendal is conducting a feasibility study for blue carbon in West Africa – Blue Carbon West Africa – in conjunction with the Abidjan Convention 2 Secretariat. The intent of the report is to allow the Abidjan Secretariat to evaluate where projects might be easily started, or included in on-going efforts. Case studies will highlight success stories and lessons learned from the region. This report is being completed in partnership with Coastal and Ocean Policy Programme at the Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions at Duke University. A full draft will be submitted to the secretariat in June 2016. Environment Facility are committing to provide the key elements necessary for these states to develop national resilience strategies and to build a pipeline of investment projects to increase coastal resilience […] Through this commitment […] Blue Guardians will drive a wave of sustainable development into these economies, increase the resilience of the islands in the face of a changing climate, and hopefully spur others to follow suit.” Former U.S. President Bill Clinton speaking at the launch of the Blue Guardians initiative, New York City “The best climate and geospatial technologies often are prohibitively expensive for many of these nations. So today, Digital Globe with their partners in Blue Guardians [Clinton Climate Initiative] and including SIDS DOCK, Conservation International, GRID- Arendal, and World Bank, and the Global

The Coastal Blue Carbon Counter is a joint initiative with The Nature Conservancy’s Mapping Ocean Wealth Project, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and GRID-Arendal. It shows real time CO2e sequestered by three coastal blue carbon habitats: mangroves, salt marshes, and seagrass. It also displays amounts of emitted CO2e due to coastal blue carbon habitat loss. The counter was launched at COP21.

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