"Sea Level Rise Now" News Digest

Article Synopsis – Recent scientific advances have demonstrated that coastal wetlands – mangrove forests, tidal marshes and seagrass meadows – are incredible long-term carbon sinks, storing carbon in the plants themselves but more importantly in the soils below for hundreds to thousands of years. They also provide many other ecosystem services to people, including coastal protection, habitat, food security, biodiversity and tourism income, and we must do all we can to protect them. The climate change mitigation efforts of national governments should focus on coastal wetland ecosystems, which provide critical and manageable carbon sinks under existing climate policies and mechanisms. Policy makers should continue to access carbon finance and policies to better manage coastal blue carbon. This is why conserving, restoring and sustainably using coastal wetlands is crucial in the battle against climate change. To read the actual article click here.