Dr. Luzhen Chen is a professor in the College of Environment and Ecology at Xiamen University. Her research focuses on the ecology of coastal wetland ecosystems under global change. She is interested in the carbon cycling processes of mangroves, salt marshes, and seagrass beds, and has set up monitoring stations for blue carbon to systematically understand the carbon storage and carbon sequestration of coastal wetlands on the coasts of China. She is interested in the studies of the impact of sea level rise, warming, and atmospheric CO2 elevation on mangrove ecosystems, predicting the impact of mangrove ecosystems under climate change. Dr. Chen and her team have participated in several blue carbon research projects, and have constructed methodologies for blue carbon trading for the domestic carbon markets, and participated in blue carbon projects in China's mangroves and salt marshes.
Blue Carbon Methodology in China: Tools for the Assessment of Ocean-based Climate Solutions
Blue carbon ecosystems (BCEs), such as mangroves, seagrasses, and salt marshes, play a crucial role in mitigating the effects of climate change by sequestering large amounts of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Blue Carbon Methodology, as significant tools for assessing the carbon sequestrating capacities of BCEs, plays a crucial role in ocean-based climate change adaptation actions.
In the globe, blue carbon methodologies have been developed, and two of them in the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) and the Verified Carbon Standard (VCS) have been used in the existing Blue Carbon Projects in VCS. Since 2020, we have developed the national methodologies for mangroves, saltmarshes, and seagrass beds in China, and applied them in domestic blue carbon market transactions. Compare with the existing global blue carbon methodologies, these methodologies in China have several characteristics: 1) Among these methodologies, the scenarios of Blue Carbon Projects are all centered around the current practices of coastal wetland restoration and management in China, covering scenarios such as mangrove planting, coastal wetland restoration, BCE reconstruction, returning ponds to wetlands, and the control of invasive Spartina alterniflora and restore native BCEs. The necessity and additional value of the Blue Carbon Project are demonstrated through these scenarios. 2) In blue carbon sequestration accounting, the methods of quantifying key carbon sequestration processes are standardized and considered in the monitoring plans; and
characteristic parameters, e.g., net primary production of typical vegetation types, the sediment organic carbon accumulation rates of different landform types, and organic carbon content in seagrass water volume, etc., are obtained from China’s BCEs monitoring network and assigned default values, which brings great increase the implementation of China’s Blue Carbon Projects and increases the feasibility. 3) These methodologies focus on the comprehensive value of the ecosystems, simplify the review process for Projects with important natural conservation significance, and encourage the financing of Blue Carbon Projects that integrate biodiversity conservation and sustainable development.
