Services
In addition to academic research, the Blue Carbon Lab offers a range of environmental services spanning from project inception to implementation. We have provided consulting services to partners from industry and government, with collaborations in over 30 countries.
Our services include:
Wetland Carbon Assessments
We can quantify the capacity of coastal (blue carbon) and freshwater (teal carbon) wetlands to sequester carbon through carbon assessments at multiple spatial scales. Employing both desktop and field-based techniques such as spatial analysis and environmental economics, our in-house expertise can help clients to develop a first pass or feasibility assessment to understand carbon opportunities, outline the benefits of restoring or creating wetland carbon ecosystems, and develop roadmaps to guide future research or projects.
Environmental Assessments
With environmental experts across a variety of fields, the Blue Carbon Lab has the technical expertise to produce a wide range of environmental assessments. We can identify the potential environmental and/or social risks involved with a project and make suggestions for strategies to avoid or mitigate these impacts. We use evidence-based, balanced frameworks to make our assessments, ensuring that the results are independent and unbiased.
Environmental Restoration
We can help you to identify suitable sites, develop designs and methods to best restore environments for the desired outcomes, and implement restoration activities. We have the skills to develop and undertake pre- and post-restoration monitoring and assessments, including but not limited to elevation, vegetation, and biodiversity surveys, soil physio-chemical analyses, and impacts to the carbon budget (such as soil carbon stocks, carbon turnover and sequestration rates, and greenhouse gas emissions).
Citizen Science
The Blue Carbon Lab has successfully developed and run multiple citizen science and educational programs to engage staff and the community in a range of environmental issues. Our team has the capacity to develop a tailored citizen science program from start to finish: delivering engaging outreach presentations, engaging staff or donors in the field for hands-on immersive experiences, and using the data collected to further advance our understanding of environmental issues.
System of Environmental Economic Accounting (SEEA)
We have experience in developing marine and coastal Environmental-Economic Accounts using the recently developed UN System of Environment Economic Accounting Ecosystem Accounts (SEEA EA) framework. As experts in marine and coastal ecosystem ecology, mapping, monitoring, and valuing ecosystem services, we are well placed to collate together the relevant information required by the SEEA to help inform management.
Feasibility Assessments
Managing the environment requires decisions to be made in how to best manage ecosystems. There are a range of threats to manage, often over large areas, which can be costly and it can be hard to priortise what actions to do and where to maximise the investment. We have experience in developing feasibility assessments to help resource managers and investors assess the risk-return ratios for proposed projects, and thereby help advise on actions to achieve the best return on investment.
Remote Sensing
Remote sensing is a useful tool for monitoring and quantifying processes at large temporal and spatial scales. We harness this data to answer a variety of questions at large geographic scales. With remote sensing, we can access decades of daily observations across the globe, some of which have precision at sub-meter definitions. We employ cloud computing to give us the vast computational power to manage this considerable flow of information.
Microbial Analysis
Microorganisms and their community at large – also known as the microbiome – are essential to the health and ecosystem functions of organisms in natural environments. We have interdisciplinary expertise in coastal soil/sediment and plant biogeochemistry and microbiology. Additionally, while using microbial ecology tools to understand blue carbon restoration and conservation is still in its early stages, we have the capacity to explore microbial dynamics and how these could potentially facilitate restoration of coastal ecosystems.
Marine Biosecurity
We have the expertise and skills to assist with identifying and addressing marine biosecurity threats and risks. We are the Australian experts for marine plant diseases. We can undertake detailed case studies, risk assessments, and reviews for marine pests and pathogens. We also have the capacity and network to provide relevant information to, and liaise with, clients, stakeholders and members of the public.
