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Custodians of the Globe's Blue Carbon Assets

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Custodians of the Globe's Blue Carbon Assets NIO M O UN IM D R T IA A L • P UNESCO Marine World Heritage • W L O A I R D L D N H O E M R I E TA IN G O E • PATRIM United Nations World Educational, Scientific and Heritage Cultural Organization Convention Custodians of the globe’s blue carbon assets 1 Published in 2021 by the United Nations Educational, Lead Authors: Scientific and Cultural Organization, 7, place Carlos M. Duarte1,2, Trisha B. Atwood3, James G. 4 5 2,6 de Fontenoy, 75352 Paris 07 SP, France Kairo , Hilary Kennedy , Dorte Krause-Jensen , Catherine E. Lovelock7, and Oscar Serrano8 Lead Author Affiliations: © UNESCO 2021 1Red Sea Research Center (RSRC) and Computational Bioscience Research Center (CBRC), King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), CLT-2021/WS/1 Thuwal 23955-6900, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia 2Arctic Research Centre, Aarhus University, Ole Worms Allé 1, DK-8000 Åarhus C, Denmark 3Department of Watershed Sciences and the Ecology Center, Utah State University, Logan, This publication is available in Open Access under the UT 84322, United States of America 4 Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 IGO (CC-BY-SA 3.0 IGO) Blue Carbon Unit, Kenya Marine and Fisheries Research license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by- Institute, P.O. Box 81651 Mombasa-80100, Kenya 5School of Ocean Sciences, Bangor University, sa/3.0/igo/). By using the content of this publication, Menai Bridge, Anglesey, Wales LL59 5AB the users accept to be bound by the terms of use of 6Department of Bioscience, Aarhus University, the UNESCO Open Access Repository (http://www. Vejlsøvej 25, DK-8600 Silkeborg, Denmark unesco.org/open-access/terms-use-ccbysa-en). 7School of Biological Sciences, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, Queensland 4072, Australia. The designations employed and the presentation of 8School of Science, Centre for Marine Ecosystems material throughout this publication do not imply the Research, Edith Cowan University, 7 Joondalup expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of Drive, Joondalup WA 6027, Australia. UNESCO concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning Contributing Authors: the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. SE Bukhosini, iSimangaliso Wetland Park – World Heritage Site and the iSimangaliso Wetland Park Authority; The ideas and opinions expressed in this publication Frauke Fleischer-Dogley, Seychelles Islands Foundation; are those of the authors; they are not necessarily those Stephanie Martin, Government of Tristan da Cunha; Anette of UNESCO and do not commit the Organization. Bäck, Parks and Wildlife Finland; Myriam Marcon, World Heritage Unit Coordinator – Conservatoire d’espaces naturels; Alexandr Gruzdev, Wrangel Island Nature Reserve; Kirsten L Rodgers, Department of Conservation, New Zealand; Daníel Freyr Jónsson, The Environment Agency of Iceland; Franziska Eller, Aarhus University, Suggested citation: Department of Biology, Aarhus, Denmark; Peter Mueller, UNESCO. 2020. UNESCO Marine World Heritage: Custodians Center for Earth System Research and Sustainability, Universität Hamburg, Allende-Platz 2, 20146 Hamburg, of the globe’s blue carbon assets. Paris, France Germany and Smithsonian Environmental Research Center, 647 Contees Wharf Rd, MD 21037, United States; Kelly Elschot, Wageningen University and Research; Common The idea for this assessment originated during the 4th Wadden Sea Secretariat; Vivian Belisle-Ramnarace/ Marine World Heritage Managers Conference (Glacier Bay Belize Fisheries Department; Comision Nacional de National Park and Preserve, 2019). This assessment is Áreas Naturales Protegidas - SEMARNAT, Reserva de made in response to World Heritage Committee Decision la Biosfera Sian Ka’an; Luke Skinner – Department 41 COM7 (Krakow/UNESCO, 2017), requesting the World of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions. Heritage Centre to further study the current and potential impacts of Climate Change on the OUV of World Heritage Coordinating Authors: Fanny Douvere, Robbert Casier, UNESCO World Heritage properties. The assessment is also responding to the 2017 Centre, Natural Heritage Unit, Marine Programme “UNESCO Strategy for Action on Climate Change”, adopted by the 39th session of the UNESCO General Conference, in Review particular by raising awareness on the impacts of climate Elisabetta Bonotto, Ocean Science Section, IOC-UNESCO change on the world’s natural and cultural heritage (art. Kirsten Isensee, Ocean Science Section, IOC-UNESCO 76). UNESCO (2017). Available at: http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0025/002592/259255e.pdf Acknowledgements CMD acknowledges financial support from King Abdullah University of Science and Technology under the Circular Images marked with an asterisk (*) do not fall under the Carbon Economy initiative. DKJ acknowledges financial CC-BY-SA license and may not be used or reproduced support from EU (FutureMARES, contract #869300). TBA without the prior permission of the copyright holders. acknowledges support from an Early Career Research Fellowship from the Gulf Research Program of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. OS acknowledges financial support from Edith Cowan University. We thank J.P. Draper for assistance with the mangrove spatial data set. The contents in Editor: Jove this document are solely the opinions of the authors Cover photo: Oxygen bubbles on seagrass and do not constitute a statement of policy, decision leaves in Ibiza (Spain). © Shane Gross or position on behalf of the Gulf Research Program of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, Graphic design: Aurelia Mazoyer and Medicine or of the institutions of other authors. Executive Summary Marine World Heritage comprises at least 21% of the global area of blue carbon ecosystems and 15% of global blue carbon assets - carbon Over the last decades scientists have discovered stores that are equivalent to about that seagrass meadows, tidal marshes, and 10% of global greenhouse gas mangroves – “blue carbon” ecosystems – are emissions in 2018. among the most intensive carbon sinks in the biosphere. By sequestering and storing significant amounts of carbon from the atmosphere and ocean, blue carbon ecosystems help mitigate climate change. But conversion and degradation of these ecosystems can also release billions of tons of CO2 and other greenhouse gases into the ocean and atmosphere and contribute to global warming. UNESCO’s World Heritage List includes the world’s most iconic marine protected areas, recognized by the international community for their outstanding biodiversity, beauty, geology and natural habitats. This report is a first assessment of blue carbon assets across the UNESCO marine World Heritage sites, revealing their outsized role as custodians of globally relevant blue carbon resources, including the largest areas of seagrass and mangroves in the ocean. Despite representing less than 1% of the global ocean area, marine World Heritage sites and their immediate surrounding areas for which data was available comprise at least 21% of the global area of blue carbon ecosystems and 15% of global blue carbon assets. These carbon stores are equivalent to about 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions in 2018. Investing in the conservation and restoration of UNESCO marine World Heritage sites offers significant opportunities to mitigate climate change, meet the goals of the Paris Agreement under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change by including these assets in Nationally Determined Contributions, and finance conservation, at least in part, through the resulting carbon credits. The United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development and United Nations Decade of Ecosystem Restoration offer a unique opportunity to promote the restoration of these crucial habitats and accelerate reaching the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals by 2030. Moindou, Lagoons of New Caledonia: Reef Diversity and Associated Ecosystems (France). © Martial Dosdane 3 Marine World Heritage sites contain some of the world’s largest intact mangroves, the world’s largest tidal flats, and major seagrass beds, including seagrass meadows that are the oldest and largest living organism on the planet Sian Ka’an (Mexico). © Inspired By Maps/Shutterstock.com* 1. UNESCO Marine World Heritage Since its creation in 1972, the World Heritage Convention has in 1989 and Shark Bay, Western Australia (Australia) in been an exemplar for sustainable protection of the globe’s 1991. In 1999, Ibiza, Biodiversity and Culture (Spain), whose most treasured places. The UNESCO World Heritage List meadows of the unique Posidonia oceanica are the oldest and (“the List”) currently includes 1,121 globally outstanding largest living organism on the planet, was listed. The Wadden places – cultural and natural – in 167 countries.1 The Sea (Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands) was included sites reflect our common heritage of humankind and are in 2009 and extended in 2014, adding some of the world’s a legacy to pass on to future generations. In its day-to- largest tidal flats, including seagrass and tidal marshes. day-work, World Heritage unites 194 nations behind the Collectively, these ecosystems encompass a marine shared responsibility to preserve the world’s outstanding area of 207 million ha, representing 10% of all protected places for the benefit of present and future generations. marine area globally as of January 2021.4 Yet they Since the listing of Everglades National Park (USA) in 1979 represent a disproportionately large conservation
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