Carbon Potential of Mangroves identified by UNEP report

UNEP releases three new studies at UNFCCC in Lima, Peru

Location: Lima, Peru. 9th Dec 2014

The economic and social benefits of mangroves - which are estimated to run into the hundreds of billions worldwide - remain largely untapped due to a lack of carbon finance mechanisms, appropriate policy interventions, and rapid mangrove deforestation, according to a new United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) report launched today at the 20th Conference of the Parties on Climate Change.

The Guiding Principles for Delivering Coastal Wetland Carbon Projects finds that the potential economic, social and environmental gains from conserving mangroves - 90 per cent of which are found in developing countries and many of which are under threat - including from mangrove inclusion in Reducing Emissions from Deforestations and forest Degradation (REDD+) strategies and protecting and enhancing mangrove stores of carbon, still remain largely under-exploited.

UNEP estimates the economic cost of the destruction of carbon-rich mangroves, which are being cleared 3 - 5 times faster than terrestrial forests, at $42 billion in economic damages annually.

The report argues that while policymakers and financial markets are beginning to take action, more needs to be done to develop new methodologies for carbon accounting for mangroves and other coastal wetland ecosystems, to conserve mangroves, and to increase the profile of mangroves in REDD+ and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

 

Read more about The Guiding Principles UNEP Report at their News Centre (click here). Two other UNEP reports were launched at the UNFCCC in Lima, that speak about carbon incentives and monitoring the restoration of mangroves from space (see reports at the UN News Centre, or see the Related Links on this page). 

The Guiding Principles for Delivering Coastal Wetland Carbon Projects report

The Guiding Principles for Delivering Coastal Wetland Carbon ... , Bangkok, Thailand © UNEP, 2014

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