Ocean Affairs Council APEC Roundtable Addresses Blue Carbon — Scholar: Marine Carbon Sink Has Already Met the 2030 Target Ahead of Schedule

The Editor says: Blue carbon sinks are a vital component in mitigating climate change. Although Taiwan has already achieved the 2030 target of 340,000 tonnes, expanding carbon sinks remains difficult, and related programs are still in the experimental phase. The priority going forward will be to maintain existing carbon sink levels. <Full article reprinted from Environmental Information Center, reported by reporter 劉庭莉2023.09.08>

The Ocean Affairs Council hosted an APEC Business/Private Sector Engagement in Ocean Environmental Sustainability Roundtable on the 6th and 7th, with one of its key focal themes being the current state and challenges of blue carbon economic development. Domestic scholars noted that Taiwan's marine carbon sink is preliminarily estimated at approximately 350,000 metric tonnes of CO₂ equivalent per year, already surpassing the 2030 target of 340,000 tonnes. Huang Hsiang-wen, Director-General of the Marine Conservation Administration (MCA), stated that related programs are still in the experimental stage, that increasing carbon sinks is no easy task, and that the priority going forward will be maintaining existing carbon sink levels.

Blue Carbon Sink Targets

Blue carbon sinks are a vital component in mitigating climate change. Lin Hsing-juh, Distinguished Lifetime Professor in the Department of Life Sciences at National Chung Hsing University, explained that Taiwan's blue carbon area covers approximately 6,350 hectares, with seagrass beds accounting for the largest share at roughly 5,470 hectares. He also revealed that Taiwan's marine carbon sink is preliminarily estimated at approximately 350,000 metric tonnes of CO₂ equivalent per year — already meeting the 2030 target of 340,000 tonnes.

Director-General Huang Hsiang-wen told reporters that Taiwan only obtained relatively accurate blue carbon figures this year and that calculations are still ongoing. Programs related to increasing carbon sink capacity are also being tested experimentally; however, boosting carbon sinks is not easy, and the focus going forward will be on maintaining current levels.

Climate change and biodiversity are deeply intertwined. The value of blue carbon ecosystem services extends beyond carbon sequestration — it also enhances biodiversity. In terms of carbon sequestration capacity, mangroves absorb five times more carbon than seagrass beds and 26 times more than terrestrial forests. They also help expand coastal land area and protect coastal communities from flooding, making them a highly cost-effective blue carbon investment.

Mangrove Restoration Programs Around the World

The roundtable invited scholars from Japan, South Korea, Australia, Indonesia, and Thailand to share their respective national experiences. Benjamin Brown, a postdoctoral researcher at the Australian Institute of Marine Science and the Research Institute for the Environment and Livelihoods (RIEL) at Charles Darwin University (CDU) — who has long studied Indonesia's mangroves — noted that the direct financial value of mangroves is low. Local communities, seeking livelihoods, have largely replaced mangrove areas with aquaculture, oil palm, or coconut cultivation, resulting in a loss of more than 5,000 hectares of mangrove cover over the past decade or so.

In an effort to restore coastal environments, Indonesia has set a target of rehabilitating 600,000 hectares of mangroves by 2024. However, Brown cautioned that mangrove restoration is an enormously difficult undertaking — more than 95% of attempts end in failure — and that comprehensive planning and assessment are essential. Beyond identifying suitable natural environments, socioeconomic and political dimensions must also be considered, and public participation should be fostered through workshops to improve the likelihood of success.

Several coastal regions of Thailand are also carrying out mangrove restoration programs. Sakanan Plathong, a lecturer at the Marine Science Learning Center, Department of Biology, Prince of Songkla University, shared experiences of failure, noting that planting in areas with unsuitable socioeconomic conditions tends to fail because residents lack conservation awareness or alternative livelihoods. Planting mangroves in areas where they did not historically exist can also obstruct water flow or sediment transport, damaging the habitat. Furthermore, planting a single tree species significantly diminishes overall effectiveness.

Overly dense mangrove growth and the expansion of terrestrial coverage can also cause problems. Yeh Tsai-fu, Director of the Environmental Conservation Division at the Guandu Nature Park Administration, explained that because human intervention has been prohibited in the Guandu Nature Reserve in Taipei, the mangrove area expanded from 0.32 hectares in 2000 to 23.31 hectares in 2020. This has caused the waterway areas of the Jilong River and Tamsui River to shrink and has disrupted waterbird habitat. In 2021, the site became Taiwan's first nature reserve to be delisted, transitioning to a nationally important wetland. To date, approximately 8 hectares of mangroves have been thinned.

Editor in charge: Jenny Tsai

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Full article republished with permission from Environmental Information Center. Original title: Ocean Affairs Council APEC Roundtable Addresses Blue Carbon — Scholar: Marine Carbon Sink Has Already Met 2030 Target Ahead of Schedule