Creating connections across the coastal blue carbon sector

The Department of Conservation (DOC) and The Nature Conservancy Aotearoa New Zealand (TNC NZ) hosted a one-day hui in Nelson in April to bring together the many organisations, groups, and individuals with an interest in coastal blue carbon.

“Blue carbon” is the carbon captured and held in marine ecosystems. Coastal wetlands such as mangroves, saltmarshes, and seagrass meadows are major carbon sinks and punch above their weight in terms of carbon sequestered per area, with some able to store many times more carbon than forested areas.

Many of these coastal areas are shrinking and at risk from climate-related threats including sea level rise, sedimentation, and encroachment by urban and agricultural development.

There is growing interest from private and public landowners in using carbon credits and revenue from coastal wetland restoration projects to finance the work, providing a virtuous cycle for biodiversity protection.

Representatives from TNC NZ, DOC, local and central government, Crown Research Institutes and universities, private researchers, and iwi and hapū discussed how blue carbon markets could be used to fund coastal restoration, how to engage local communities in restoration projects, how to improve restoration efforts, and how science and mātauranga Māori can be woven together in these projects.

The event builds on a hui held in March by Tasman Environmental Trust to discuss the results of their Core and Restore project.Read more