The new research forum ‘Blue Carbon Forum’, powered by the Scottish Government in partnership with Scottish universities will measure the ability of Scotland’s marine environment to store carbon dioxide and mitigate against the effects of climate change. It aims to identify and map blue carbon resource in Scottish waters over 2018-19.
Namely, the forum will led by Professor John Baxter.
Moreover, Roseanna Cunningham, Environment Secretary stated that the marine environment has many potential to tackle the GHG emissions, as resulted from a research conducted by the University of St Andrews.
[smlsubform prepend=”GET THE SAFETY4SEA IN YOUR INBOX!” showname=false emailtxt=”” emailholder=”Enter your email address” showsubmit=true submittxt=”Submit” jsthanks=false thankyou=”Thank you for subscribing to our mailing list”]
The research highlighted that the sea itself can capture and store more sea lochs in comparison to forests and peatlands. More specifically, Scottish Natural Heritage has estimated that the amount of carbon stored within Scotland’s Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) equals to four years of Scotland’s total GHG emissions.
According to these findings, the forum aspires to expand the research and thoroughly acknowledge the processes that occur, as well as the impact of human activity.
Also, Cunningham stated that Scotland will be the first country to undertake a region-wide blue carbon audit, taking place in the Orkney Islands maritime region.
John Baxter continued, noting that the blue carbon forum is an innovation in carbon storage and will provide important information to improve and protect key habitats in the future that will be crucial for eliminating climate change.
Concluding, the research forum has been developed by Marine Scotland in partnership with SNH, St Andrew’s University, Glasgow University, Heriot-Watt University, Napier University, and the Scottish Association for Marine Science (SAMS).
