The Energy and Resources Institute

Abhijit Mitra P Sufia Zaman

A ground zero observation on blue carbon

Carbon Sequestration by Coastal Floral Community

Abhijit Mitra P Sufia Zaman

A ground zero observation on blue carbon

As nature-based approaches for the mitigation of climate change are increasingly seen as part of the solution, blue carbon has recently been receiving greater international attention. This has stimulated renewed interest in better management, conservation and restoration of coastal ecosystems including mangrove forests, seagrass meadows, tidal salt marshes, and seaweed beds for the purpose of climate change mitigation. However, a number of gaps still exist in our scientifi c knowledge on coastal biodiversity, which are critical to developing blue carbon projects for the international carbon market.

Carbon Sequestration by Coastal Floral Community focuses on some of these important issues. Apart from standardizing ecological approach in estimating blue carbon in various vegetation compartments, this book also presents a few important case studies, which serve as the basics of hands-on-scientifi c training in estimating the magnitude of stored carbon in mangroves, salt marsh, seagrass, seaweeds and phytoplankton. The infl uence of salinity, nutrients and several relevant hydrological parameters on the rate of blue carbon sequestration has also been critically analysed.

The Energy and Resources Institute

Carbon Sequestration by Coastal Floral Community

Carbon Sequestration by Coastal Floral Community

The Energy and Resources Institute

Carbon Sequestration by Coastal Floral Community

Abhijit Mitra P Sufia Zaman

© The Energy and Resources Institute, 2014

ISBN 978-81-7993-551-4

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher.

All export rights for this book vest exclusively with The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI). Unauthorized export is a violation of terms of sale and is subject to legal action.

Suggested citationMitra, Abhijit and Sufia Zaman. 2014. Carbon Sequestration by Coastal Floral Community. New Delhi: TERI

Published byThe Energy and Resources Institute (TERI)TERI Press Darbari Seth Block IHC Complex, Lodhi RoadNew Delhi – 110 003India

Printed in India

Tel. 2468 2100 or 4150 4900Fax 2468 2144 or 2468 2145 India +91 • Delhi (0) 11Email teripress@teri.res.inWebsite www.teriin.org

Preface

Coastal ecosystems, deltaic lobes at the river mouth or estuarine ecosystems sustain a unique spectrum of halophytic vegetation. These vegetations, preferably the mangroves, tidal salt marshes, seagrass meadows, and seaweeds store considerable load of carbon in their biomass and soils and act as sink of atmospheric carbon dioxide through primary production. This carbon, associated with marine, coastal and estuarine ecosystems is commonly referred to as blue carbon. The tiny free floating producer community of the aquatic phase (phytoplankton) in marine and estuarine compartment also sequesters and stores carbon and comes under the banner of blue carbon. Recent scientific syntheses have placed the global total estimated emissions from degraded and converted coastal wetlands each year at between 300 and 900 million tonnes of carbon dioxide, approximately equal to the annual carbon dioxide emissions from energy and industry for Poland and Germany, respectively. The rates of carbon sequestration and storage in these coastal ecosystems are comparable to the rates in carbon-rich terrestrial ecosystems such as tropical rainforests or freshwater peatlands. Unlike most terrestrial systems, which reach soil carbon equilibrium within decades, deposition of carbon dioxide in coastal ecosystem sediment can continue over millennia. However, when degraded or destroyed, these systems can become sources of carbon dioxide emissions, due to oxidization of biomass and organic matter stored in the soil, litter, and detritus. Current rates of loss of mangroves, seagrass beds and salt marshes, caused largely by human activities such as conversion, coastal development and over-harvesting, estimated to be between 0.7% and 2% a year, are among

VI PREFACE

the highest rates of loss of any ecosystem on the planet Earth. This is of considerable concern with respect to their role in carbon sequestration and emissions. Seaweed beds and kelp forests are also ecosystems of interest for blue carbon sequestration and storage. However, unlike other blue carbon ecosystems, seaweed and kelp do not have soil substrates and thus do not retain large amounts of carbon in sediments, although they can act as carbon sinks by reducing dissolved inorganic carbon. The phytoplankton community in the aquatic systems is of special interest because of their rapid rate of production, growth, and life cycle completion time. Researchers working in the areas of blue carbon have concluded that a given population of phytoplankton can double its numbers in the order of once per day. In other words, phytoplankton respond very rapidly to changes in their environment. Large populations of this organism, sustained over long periods of time would significantly lower atmospheric carbon dioxide levels and, in turn, lower average temperatures. As nature-based approaches for the mitigation of climate change are increasingly seen as part of the solution, blue carbon has recently been receiving greater international attention. This has stimulated renewed interest in better management, conservation and restoration of coastal ecosystems including mangrove forests, seagrass meadows, tidal salt marshes, and seaweed beds for the purpose of climate change mitigation. However, a number of gaps still exist in our scientific knowledge on coastal biodiversity, which are critical to developing blue carbon projects for the international carbon market. The present book has focused on some of these important issues. Apart from standardizing ecological approach in estimating blue carbon in various vegetation compartments, the book also presents a few important case studies (as annexure), which can serve as the basics of hand-on-scientific training in estimating the magnitude of stored carbon in mangroves, salt marsh, seagrass, seaweeds, and phytoplankton. The influence of salinity, nutrients, and several relevant hydrological parameters on the rate of blue carbon sequestration has also been critically analysed. The book has its own individuality not because of the lucidness of language and presentation of relevant case studies, but for bringing in frontline the long-term data (30 years) of Indian Sundarbans. Criticism and debates are the hallmarks of any climate change-related book,

PREFACE VII

as a “noisy zone” always lies in such subjects, where it is difficult to standardize the estimation technology and allometric models related to blue carbon sequestration. This is mainly because the coastal and estuarine floral components are not only diverse in their morphology, anatomy and physiology, but also exhibit different growth patterns in different environmental conditions. Such debatable issues have been addressed in this book and attempts have been made by the authors to link and merge the scientific findings in the matrix of common mass, professionals, researchers, policy makers, and environmentalists in order to impart momentum to the blue carbon vertical in the international research and policy platform.

Acknowledgements

The authors developed the base on mangrove ecology from Professor Yusuf Ali Zamadar as disciples. Professor Ali, the main backbone of the Marine Science discipline in the University of Calcutta (India) and guru of mangrove gurukul, taught the authors the art of living with nature. He inspired the authors to work in the rigorous environment of Sundarbans with sincerity, dedication and honest effort to reveal the ground reality of the ecosystem. The authors got inspiration from Dr. Atanu Kumar Raha when he was the PCCF and Head of Forest Force, Govt. of West Bengal during 2007 to 2012. Dr. Raha with excellent expertise in remote sensing and GIS technology helped the authors to develop map on phytopigment variations in Sundarban ecosystem. A few maps in the book have been taken from the Ph.D thesis of Dr. Raha. The authors greatly acknowledge the infrastructural facility offered by Techno India University, Salt Lake Campus while preparing the manuscript. The authors also received inspiration for touching the sky from Mr. Goutam Roychowdhury. The authors gratefully acknowledge the field data generated by Dr. Kakoli Banerjee (in the field of phytoplankton) without which the chapter on plankton could not be completed. Dr. Banerjee also critically scanned the manuscript and provided constructive inputs to better it. The authors are indebted to Dr. Subhro Bikash Bhattacharyya for his tireless sampling from the Sundarban mangrove forest, which helped the authors to carry out the scientific analysis of soil, water and plankton community through seasons and years.

Carbon Sequestration by Coastal FloralCommunity: A ground zero observation

on blue carbon

Publisher : TERI Press ISBN : 9788179935514 Author : Abhijit Mitra, Suf iaZaman

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