The conservation, restoration, and sustainable management of blue carbon ecosystems (BCEs), including mangrove forests, seagrass meadows, and tidal salt marshes, are critical to addressing the intertwined crises of climate change and biodiversity loss. These ecosystems are capable of sequestering relatively large amounts of carbon, while also offering a range of benefits for communities, biodiversity, and climate adaptation and resilience.
Efforts to fully capture the value of BCEs and secure the ongoing delivery of their services remain limited due to a complex set of barriers. Among these is a real or perceived lack of financing options to bring BCE projects to life and sustain them long-term.
While carbon market approaches are often the most recognized financing solution for BCEs, the suite of financing approaches available for BCE projects is broad and diverse. A new report by Rare and Conservation International entitled, “Beyond Carbon Credits: Demystifying non-carbon market approaches for blue carbon ecosystems,” outlines the variety of types of financing instruments for blue carbon projects. This report helps decision-makers and implementers at national, subnational, and local levels understand the wide variety of non-carbon market approaches (NCMA) and financing instruments that could support BCE projects at the local level, including the critical enabling conditions that are necessary for a successful project.
Top takeaways from the report include:
- Effective conservation, restoration, and sustainable management of blue carbon ecosystems are powerful nature-based solutions (NbS) that can support action towards global challenges like climate change, biodiversity loss, and sustainable development.
- Simultaneously, such projects can bring strong benefits for local communities when projects are appropriately designed.
- There is a range of non-carbon market financial instruments offering distinct opportunities to catalyze investment in blue carbon ecosystems.
- Financing instruments for BCE NCMAs depend highly on the local context, community engagement and buy-in, and the presence of enabling conditions.
- The consideration of enabling conditions provides an approachable and helpful lens when assessing which financing approach/es to pursue. Their consideration further reiterates the necessary early-stage steps to ensure a high-quality BCE project.
- While enabling conditions are essential, the report emphasizes that many NCMA instruments are already being piloted or applied in coastal contexts, offering real-world examples that can inform replication, scaling, and adaptation to local needs.
- BCE projects are often conflated with carbon market approaches, and thus many BCE NCMAs are not yet well-understood or optimally used.