Group Focused on Blue Carbon Policy Features Institute Researchers

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Friday, February 3, 2012

CONTACT: Erin McKenzie
(919) 613-3652
erin.mckenzie@duke.edu 

DURHAM, N.C. – Preserving and restoring coastal habitats, such as mangroves and salt marshes, could be an important step to curbing climate change.

When these habitats are lost the massive amount of carbon tucked away from the atmosphere in biomass and sediment layers below the surface—referred to as “blue carbon”—is released into the air.

Two researchers at the Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions are among the members of a group tasked with addressing the global significance of climate change mitigation through the protection of these carbon-storing habitats.

Recently, the International Blue Carbon Policy Working Group, presented to the European Parliament following their second meeting in Brussels.

The goal, said Brian Murray, member and director for economic analysis at the Nicholas Institute, was to educate members of the parliament about blue carbon and explore how it might work with other mitigation strategies.

Since the working group was commissioned in the summer of 2011, members have been developing a strategy to integrate the preservation of coastal habitats into biodiversity policies and climate mitigation strategies. Their work, to date, has been cataloged in a new report called Blue Carbon Policy Framework. The report attempts to develop policy options both internationally and regionally to advance blue carbon as a climate change mitigation strategy and engage policy makers across the world.

Murray, and Linwood Pendleton, director of ocean and coastal policy at the Nicholas Institute and also a member of the working group, are among those leading the way in this area of research, with a number of publications focused on blue carbon. Each is traveling the world sharing their expertise on the topic—including speaking engagements at The Economist’s World Oceans Summit in Singapore and the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Annual Meeting in Canada, this month.

For more information about the working group, visit http://www.marineclimatechange.com/marineclimatechange/bluecarbon_BrusselsPolicy.html

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