BLUE CARBON SCIENTIFIC WORKING GROUP

Formed in February 2011, the Blue Carbon Scientific Working Group provides the scientific foundation for the Blue Carbon Initiative by synthesizing current and emerging science on blue carbon and by providing a robust scientific basis for coastal carbon conservation, management and assessment. Priority research of the Scientific Working Group functions in close partnership with the Initiative’s Policy Working Group.

The Working Group meets regularly and consists of experts in coastal carbon science, carbon assessment, remote sensing and international climate change policy. The Working Group meets in blue carbon-rich countries and collaborates closely with local experts and government officials to identify or expand in-country activities supporting the conservation and restoration of blue carbon ecosystems.

The objectives of the Scientific Working Group are to:

  • Describe the global relevance of coastal carbon;

  • Create internationally applicable standards for quantifying and monitoring coastal carbon;

  • Develop internationally acceptable standards for data collection, quality control and archiving;

  • Identify and support priority research on carbon dynamics in coastal ecosystems;

  • Develop coastal conservation, planning and management guidelines for coastal carbon activities; and

  • Support the development of pilot projects for carbon in coastal ecosystems.

The Blue Carbon Scientific Working Group has developed the “Coastal Blue Carbon: methods for assessing carbon stocks and emissions factors in mangroves, tidal salt marshes, and seagrass meadows”. The manual provides managers, scientists and other practitioners in the field with standardized recommendations for carbon measurements and analysis. Additionally, the Scientific Working Group co-founded and is supporting the  Coastal Carbon Research Coordination Network and building tools and capacity for data sharing specifically focused on ecosystem processes and coastal wetland carbon cycling.

Workshops

Chairs of International Blue Carbon Initiative Scientific Working Group:

Stephen Crooks, Ph.D. Co-Chair of International Blue Carbon Scientific Working Group, Silvestrum Climate Associates, USA – Expertise: Wetland scientist, geomorphology, sedimentology and wetlands restoration.

Emily Pidgeon, Ph.D. Co-Chair of International Blue Carbon Scientific Working Group, Oceans and Climate, Center for Oceans, Conservation International (CI), USA – Expertise: Environmental engineering and coastal oceanography.

Scientific Working Group Members:

Novi Susetyo Adi, Ph.D. Center for Marine Research, Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries, Indonesia – Expertise: Mangrove ecosystems, seagrass ecosystems, oceanography, geoinformatics (GIS), remote sensing.

William Austin, Ph.D. School of Geography & Sustainable Development, University of Saint Andrews, United Kingdom.

Guangcheng Chen, Ph.D. Third Institute of Oceanography, Ministry of Natural Resources, China – Expertise: Mangroves and carbon cycling.

Miguel Cifuentes-Jara, Ph.D. Center for Oceans, Conservation International (CI), Costa Rica – Expertise: Climate change mitigation programs and carbon cycling.

Margareth S. Copertino, Ph.D. Instituto de Oceanografia, Fundação Universidade Federal do Rio Grande (FURG), Brazil – Expertise: Seagrass and macroalgae.

Carlos M. Duarte, Ph.D. Red Sea Research Center, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Saudi Arabia – Expertise: Global change in marine ecosystems, seagrasses.

Igino Emmer, Ph.D. Silvestrum Climate Associates, the Netherlands – Expertise: Policy, forestry, and climate change.

Lola Fatoyinbo, Ph.D. Earth Sciences, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), USA.

James W. Fourqurean, Ph.D. Department of Biological Sciences, Southeast Environmental Research Center Florida, International University, USA – Expertise: Marine and estuarine ecology, seagrasses.

Dan Friess, Ph.D. Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Tulane University, USA.

Jennifer Howard, Ph.D. Oceans and Climate, Center for Oceans, Conservation International (CI), USA – Expertise: Blue carbon and marine climate change.

Kirsten Isensee, Ph.D. Ocean Carbon, Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of the United Nations Educational, Social, and Cultural Organization (IOC-UNESCO), Paris, France – Expertise: Marine policy.

James G. Kairo, Ph.D. Kenya Marine and Fisheries Research Institute, Kenya – Expertise: Mangrove ecosystem management.

J. Boone Kauffman, Ph.D. Oregon State University, USA – Expertise: Land use/land cover change, mangroves, tropical wetlands and forests.

Hilary Kennedy, Ph.D. School of Ocean Science, Bangor University, United Kingdom – Expertise: Chemical oceanography and seagrasses.

Dorte Krause-Jensen, Ph.D. Department of Bioscience and Arctic Research Centre, Aarhus University, Denmark.

Emily Landis. The Nature Conservancy, USA – Expertise: Marine and coastal resource conservation projects.

Catherine E. Lovelock, Ph.D. School of Biological Sciences, University of Queensland, Australia – Expertise: Ecology and ecophysiology of coastal plant communities.

Nuria Marba, Ph.D. Department of Global Change Research IMEDEA (CSIC-UIB), Institut Mediterrani d’Estudis Avançats (IMEDEA), Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC) y la Universidad de las Islas Baleares (UIB), Spain – Expertise: Global change and seagrass ecosystems.

J. Patrick Megonigal, Ph.D. Smithsonian Environmental Research Center (SERC), Smithsonian Institution, USA – Expertise: Biogeochemistry and wetland ecology.

James T. Morris, Ph.D. Biological and Marine Sciences, University of South Carolina, USA – Expertise: Wetland/estuarine ecology, theoretical ecology and modeling.

Daniel Murdiyarso, Ph.D. Department of Geophysics and Meteorology, Bogor Agricultural University, Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), Indonesia – Expertise: Forest meteorology.

Abdullah Faizur Rahman, Ph.D. School of Earth, Environmental, and Earth Sciences and Department of Biology, University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, USA – Expertise: Remote sensing.

Severino Salmo III, Ph.D. Ateneo de Manila University, Philippines.

Neil Saintilan, Ph.D. Department of Environmental Sciences, Macquarie University, Australia – Expertise: Wetland ecology and saltmarshes.

Marc Simard, Ph.D. Radar Science & Engineering Section, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), USA – Expertise: Remote sensing.

João Sousa. International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), Switzerland.

In Memoriam

Miguel D. Fortes, Ph.D. Marine Science Institute, University of the Philippines.