Blue Carbon: A report and recommendations by The Wildlife Trusts, WWF and RSPB

Over the past few decades, we've made great strides in recognising the importance of carbon storage to regulate climate in habitats on land, such as forests and peatlands. New, groundbreaking research has now confirmed that marine habitats also store vast amounts of carbon and must be protected.

The Blue Carbon Mapping Project, led by the Scottish Association for Marine Science (SAMS) on behalf of WWF, The Wildlife Trusts and the RSPB, provides a detailed estimate of the amount of carbon captured and stored in UK seas, including Marine Protected Areas (MPAs). The series of reports uses the best available data on coastal and marine habitats that capture and/or store carbon (known as ‘blue carbon’). It estimates that 244 million tonnes of organic carbon are stored in just the top 10 centimeters of seabed sediments and vegetated habitats, with over 98% of it stored in seabed sediments such as mud.

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