Blue Carbon Ecosystems
The Bahamas is home to an array of ‘Blue Carbon’ environs including mangroves, coral reefs, seagrass meadows, salt marshes and deep-sea ecosystems.
These unique ecosystems are important for their capacity to store carbon within the plants and sediments, effectively removing them from the earth’s atmosphere.
Coral Reefs cover less than 1% of the sea floor, but contain 25% of all marine species. A third of the Caribbean’s coral reefs are located in The Bahamas. Barrier reefs are generally found on the eastern (windward) side of islands. Fringing reefs are located near shore and patch reefs are found on the shallow banks
Coral reefs are one of the oldest ecosystems in the ocean and it can take thousands of years for the full development of a reef from the first formation of a polyp. As a complex ecosystem, they provide a home to thousands of marine species and absorb the excess carbon dioxide in the water.
A third of the Caribbean’s coral reefs are located in The Bahamas.
Mangroves are supreme carbon sinks as they absorb and store up to 10x more carbon per hectare than forests on land.
Mangroves are essential to the global ecosystem and provide around $2.7 trillion in ecosystem benefits around the world. Mangroves improve water quality, stabilize coasts and trap carbon dioxide.
70% of marine life worldwide relies on mangroves for habitat.
Seagrass accounts for 10% of the ocean’s capacity to store carbon, despite occupying only 0.2% of the sea floor and can capture carbon from the atmosphere up to 35 times faster than tropical rainforests.
A hectare of seagrass can soak up 15 times more carbon dioxide every year than a similar sized piece of the Amazon rainforest.
Seagrass can capture carbon up to 35 times faster than tropical rainforests.
Salt marshes sequester and store carbon at a rate 10 times that of mature tropical forests, helping to moderate the effects of climate change.
Salt marshes also help protect communities from coastal flooding by absorbing the influx of water during storm surges.
Salt marshes limit the effects of climate change while protecting communities.
Deep waters of The Bahamas, like the ‘Tongue of The Ocean’, provide unique opportunities for exploration and innovation in deep-sea blue carbon methodologies.
The deep sea absorbs vast amounts of heat and carbon dioxide, providing a critical buffer to climate change.