Case Studies
The UK Blue Carbon Forum aims to bring together blue carbon stakeholders from across the UK to share their insights and experience in the field of blue carbon. This page provides a collection of case studies from across the UK and beyond to help inform conversations and practical advances within the field of blue carbon. If you have a project you would like to see featured on this page, do get in touch.
The Blue Carbon Mapping Project
The Blue Carbon Mapping Project, led by the Scottish Association for Marine Science (SAMS) on behalf of WWF, The Wildlife Trusts and the RSPB, provides a detailed estimate of the amount of carbon captured and stored in UK seas, including Marine Protected Areas (MPAs).
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The series of reports uses the best available data on coastal and marine habitats that capture and/or store carbon (known as ‘blue carbon’). It estimates that 244 million tonnes of organic carbon are stored in just the top 10 centimeters of seabed sediments and vegetated habitats, with over 98% of it stored in seabed sediments such as mud.
Image credit: Paul Naylor
WCL Blue Carbon Workstream
The Wildlife & Countryside Link (WCL) blue carbon workstream aims to join the voices of organisations advocating for increased protection of our seas to tackle the climate crisis. The variety of membership in WCL’s marine group means that the expertise ranges from habitats to species and the recommendations it develops extends to a wide range of activities.
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These include the protection of blue carbon ecosystems and stores through the network of Marine Protected Areas, the development of fisheries policies to safeguard these ecosystems, or their inclusion in marine spatial planning and the marine spatial prioritisation programme. It also considers means of delivering active restoration for blue carbon ecosystems, including through government programs such as ReMeMaRe, MaRePo or the Local Nature Recovery (LNR) schemes, or through the development of a marine net gain system.
The group also looks at influencing wider policy impacting blue carbon, both domestically, for example through advocating for the concept’s inclusion in the UK Marine Strategy or the inclusion of blue carbon habitats in the Greenhouse Gas Inventory (GHGI); and internationally, recommending that the ‘blue belt’ programme in the UK Overseas Territories (UKOTs) includes protections of blue carbon as well as calling for Government to support international agreements to protect blue carbon around the world.
Overall, this workstream looks at strengthening UK’s climate and marine policies by advocating for blue carbon considerations to be seeped in at every level.
UK Saltmarsh Specialists Forum
The UK Saltmarsh Specialists Forum aims to give people and organisations that have a national remit in policy, advocacy, academia or delivery the opportunity to meet, network and share information for the benefit of UK saltmarshes and the wider ecosystem.
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Presentations are aimed to keep the group up-to-date with current policies, strategies, projects and issues and delegates are encouraged to support, collaborate and share information across groups and sectors.
The Forum has been organised and Chaired by Angus Garbutt (UKCEH) since 2009, and the most recent meeting was held at the University of Hull in June 2022.
Natural Resources Wales
Natural Resources Wales (NRW) is studying the important role Welsh seas and coasts play in storing blue carbon. NRW is working with partners to manage the health and resilience of blue carbon habitats across Wales, and are also working on ways to further increase the carbon sink potential of the Welsh marine environment.
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NRW has investigated a variety of blue carbon habitats, including the intertidal flats of the Menai Strait, the seagrass of Porth Dinllaen, and the spindly brittlestar beds of the Pembrokeshire coast. NRW has produced multiple reports on blue carbon in Wales, which can be found below:
Estimating the Carbon Sink Potential of the Welsh Marine Environment
Seaweed farming and blue carbon: an evidence review
Estimating the Carbon Sink Potential of the Welsh Marine Environment
Yorkshire Wildlife Trust - Spurn Point
The Yorkshire Wildlife Trust secured funding for a 2 hectare pilot restoration project in March 2021. As part of this project funded by the Green Recovery Fund, four acres of seagrass have been planted, with future plans to continue restoration efforts over the coming years.
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In Yorkshire, there are historical records of a 480 hectare bed of Zostera noltii eelgrass spanning 10km of intertidal mudflats from Skeffling to Chalk Bank near the mouth of the Humber estuary. Unfortunately, industrial development, poor water quality, and pollution led to a rapid decline of this meadow from the 1930s to the 1980s. Between 2010 to 2012, a series of baseline surveys noted a smaller and less extensive 2km bed ranging within Spurn Bight. In 2013, the North Eastern IFCA introduced an 80 hectare byelaw box to conserve the remaining seagrass by protecting against damaging activities in the area. Since then, annual surveys have been conducted to assess the distribution of seagrass.
RSPB Medmerry
2013 saw the completion of the largest ever realignment of the coastline in the UK, a £28 million scheme funded by the Environment Agency in partnership with the RSPB. Around 200 hectares of wetland habitat were created, providing valuable habitat for wading birds and many other species, protecting two West Sussex towns from flooding, and the creation of a significant carbon sink.
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Medmerry is one of just five locations in the UK that meet the IUCN’s Global Standard for nature-based solutions, as recognised during COP26. This standard recognises the potential for initiatives that utilise the protection and restoration of ecosystem services to help mitigate and adapt to climate change.
Essex Wildlife Trust - Saltmarsh Restoration
In 2018, the Essex Wildlife Trust and the Environment Agency established an experimental, low-cost saltmarsh restoration project. The project involved installing structures that encourage sediment to build up behind and around the structures and encourages vegetation to establish in low-energy saltmarsh channels at two locations: Essex Wildlife Trust’s Abbotts Hall Nature Reserve on the Blackwater Estuary, and Moverons Farm on the Colne Estuary.
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In 2021, the Essex Wildlife Trust secured funding from The Wildlife Trust’s fund for nature-based solutions, supplemented by a grant from the People’s Postcode Lottery, awarded by the Postcode Planet Trust. Through a combination of fieldwork with the University of Essex, mapping, and data analysis, the success of the structures installed was evaluated as well as the development of student saltmarsh fieldwork to raise the profile of saltmarshes, nature-based solutions, and blue carbon.
The Saltmarsh Restoration Project Toolkit has recently been published and is designed for practitioners and those considering different options for saltmarsh restoration.
Blue Carbon Manual
The International Blue Carbon Initiative has built a manual for measuring, assessing, and analysing coastal blue carbon. It provides standardised methods for assessing stocks and emissions in blue carbon ecosystems, namely saltmarshes, seagrass meadows, and mangroves. This is to aid the inclusion of blue carbon ecosystems within nations’ official portfolios for climate change mitigation and coastal management.
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The Initiative’s team has expertise across coastal carbon measurement, remote sensing, and climate policy. The manual aims to provide scientists and coastal managers with a useful tool for producing robust, standardised data on blue carbon ecosystems.