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      • Professor Peter Macreadie
      • Dr Paul Carnell
      • Dr Stacey Trevathan-Tackett
      • Dr Maria M. Palacios
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        • Revitalising Australia’s Freshwater Wetlands
      • Tea Composition H2O
    • Ecosystem services
    • Ecosystem Restoration
      • Coastal Wetland Restoration
        • The Victorian Coastal Wetland Restoration Program
        • Regenerating Our Coasts
        • Towards Blue Carbon Australian Carbon Credit Units
      • Kelp restoration
      • Freshwater Wetland Restoration
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      • HSBC citizen science
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MANAGEMENT OF BLUE CARBON SYSTEMS

Optimal management of coastal ecosystems for blue carbon sequestration

This ARC Linkage Project develops fundamental new knowledge of how Australia’s coastal ecosystems can be managed to achieve maximum carbon offset capacity into the future.

This research develops world-first decision tools that allow resource managers to predict how coastal management actions will affect the capacity of coastal ecosystems to sequester carbon and optimise their management for the most cost-effective blue carbon returns. This research is critical for the inclusion of coastal carbon into natural resource management and into the national greenhouse gas accounts providing new societal and financial impetus for restoration and protection.

Program background

Removal of atmospheric CO2 through biosequestration is necessary to keep global warming under 2°C as the world transitions to a low-carbon economy. Among the most efficient systems for biosequestration are vegetated coastal habitats – seagrasses, saltmarshes and mangroves – known as ‘blue carbon’ ecosystems. Australia holds one of the world’s largest stores of blue carbon worth billions of dollars. However, degradation of coastal ecosystems is dramatically weakening this capacity, resulting in the release of ancient stored blue carbon into the atmosphere, thereby accelerating climate change.

Selected Media & Publications

Can we manage coastal ecosystems to sequester more blue carbon?
Macreadie PI, Nielsen DA, Kelleway JJ, Atwood T, Seymour J, Petrou K, Connolly RM, Thomson ACG, Trevathan-Tackett S, Ralph P (2017).
Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 15: 206-213.

Our research highlighted three management strategies (at the catchment-level) that hold promise for optimizing coastal blue carbon sequestration include: (1) reducing anthropocentric nutrient inputs, (2) reinstating top- down control of bioturbator populations, and (3) restoring hydrology by removing tidal flow restrictions and restoring fluvial inputs.

Project Partners

This work was led by Deakin University’s Blue Carbon Lab, involving partners from  The Nature Conservancy, Parks Victoria, and Victoria’s Department of Environment, Land, Water, and Planing (DELWP).

Funding sources

This project was funded by an Australian Research Council (ARC) Linkage Grant.

@BlueCarbonLab

Follow this program on social media using @BlueCarbonLab

Contact

Prof Peter Macreadie (p.macreadie@deakin.edu.au)

Deakin University
  • Home
  • About
    • What we are about
    • Who we are
      • Professor Peter Macreadie
      • Dr Paul Carnell
      • Dr Stacey Trevathan-Tackett
      • Dr Maria M. Palacios
      • Dr Pawel Waryszak
      • Dr Melissa Wartman
      • Dr Micheli Duarte de Paula Costa
      • Dr Noyan Yilmaz
      • Dr Martino Malerba
      • Dr Lukas Schuster
      • Dr Tanveer Adyel
      • Dr Valentina Hurtado-McCormick
      • Dr Elodie Camprasse
      • Dr Sabiha Marine
      • Dr Vincent Raoult
      • Dr Jacqui Pocklington
      • Interns and Volunteers
      • Alumni
  • Research
    • Wetland Carbon
      • Blue Carbon
        • Seychelles Blue Carbon
        • Queensland Blue
        • Victoria’s Blue Carbon
        • Blue Carbon Management
      • Teal Carbon
        • Farm dams
        • Floating wetlands
        • Revitalising Australia’s Freshwater Wetlands
      • Tea Composition H2O
    • Ecosystem services
    • Ecosystem Restoration
      • Coastal Wetland Restoration
        • The Victorian Coastal Wetland Restoration Program
        • Regenerating Our Coasts
        • Towards Blue Carbon Australian Carbon Credit Units
      • Kelp restoration
      • Freshwater Wetland Restoration
    • Citizen science
      • HSBC citizen science
      • GeelongPort citizen science
    • Microplastics
    • Marine Biosecurity
    • Decommissioning Infrastructure
  • Services
    • Wetland Carbon Assessments
    • Environmental Assessments
    • Environmental Restoration
    • Citizen Science
    • System of Environmental Economic Accounting (SEEA)
    • Feasibility Assessments
    • Remote Sensing
    • Microbial Analysis
    • Marine Biosecurity
  • Publications
  • Vacancies
  • News
  • Donate
  • Contact
Blue Carbon Lab