To Best Fight Climate Change, ‘Blue Carbon’ Habitats Must First Survive It.  In what’s becoming a distressingly familiar scenario, the scientific evidence that a natural ecosystem can help fight climate change is building just as that same habitat faces increasing threats from a warming planet. In this case, it’s “blue carbon” habitats—such as salt marsh and seagrass beds—which can capture and store significant amounts of carbon but are also imperiled by rising sea levels. Sea-level rise is a major threat to blue carbon-storing habitats, such as marshes and seagrass beds. And although marshes can adapt by either migrating inland or growing vertically, elevation and barriers such as roads, shoreline structures, and other development can impede this movement, leading to the erosion of marsh and the release of previously stored carbon, Molly Mitchell, research assistant professor with the Virginia Institute of Marine Science at the College of William & Mary, told attendees. To counter this, coastal management officials could preserve land adjacent to marshes to allow their migration or restore coastal forests in areas less susceptible to sea-level rise, Mitchell said. To advance and support these efforts, more research is needed to better quantify existing blue carbon, improve forecasts about sea-level rise, and better understand what happens to carbon stored in coastal habitats when marshes drown because of sea-level rise. “We do assume there are limits to the natural adaptability of marshes to sea-level rise, and management actions will be necessary to prolong and enhance blue carbon stocks out into the future,” Mitchell concluded.             https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/articles/2023/01/31/to-best-fight-climate-change-blue-carbon-habitats-must-first-survive-it?utm_campaign=2023-02-27+SFN&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Pew&subscriberkey=00Q0e00001fMzQ8EAK