The Commonwealth’s Climate Finance Access Hub (CFAH) is playing a role in the emerging area of Blue Carbon.
The Commonwealth’s Climate Finance Access Hub (CFAH) is playing a role in the emerging area of Blue Carbon.
Blue carbon is the carbon stored in coastal and marine ecosystems, such as, mangroves, tidal marshes and seagrasses. These ecosystems sequester and store large quantities of carbon in both the plants and the sediments below. Between 50 and 70 percent of atmospheric carbon captured by living organisms is stored in coastal and marine ecosystems habitats.
This week the General Manager of the CFAH, Bilal Anwar, presented an overview of blue carbon in International Climate Policy at the conference ‘Indian Ocean Conference on Blue Carbon’ in Perth, Australia. “Climate Finance can play a significant role in enabling countries to protect their blue carbon assets and seek a myriad of co-benefits from these ecosystems,” he stated.
The conference is organized by Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) in collaboration with Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) and Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Government of Australia. International experts, policy makers and scientists are exchanging views and sharing knowledge on how to protect, manage these nature-based solutions in addressing long-term impacts of the climate change. A priority area for action is understanding the potential of blue carbon as a sequestration measure and determining the technical and institutional capacity that countries would need to move ahead in this area.
A number of Commonwealth member countries have requested the Commonwealth Climate Finance Access Hub to strengthen the capacity of countries in blue carbon and assist them in mobilising funding for their efforts.
