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Review
. 2023 Jul 21;4(5):100481.
doi: 10.1016/j.xinn.2023.100481. eCollection 2023 Sep 11.

Coastal blue carbon in China as a nature-based solution toward carbon neutrality

Faming Wang  1   2 , Jihua Liu  3 , Guoming Qin  1   2   4 , Jingfan Zhang  1   2   4 , Jinge Zhou  1   2   4 , Jingtao Wu  1   2 , Lulu Zhang  1   2 , Poonam Thapa  1   2 , Christian J Sanders  5 , Isaac R Santos  6 , Xiuzhen Li  7 , Guanghui Lin  8   9 , Qihao Weng  10 , Jianwu Tang  7 , Nianzhi Jiao  11 , Hai Ren  1   2
Affiliations
Review

Coastal blue carbon in China as a nature-based solution toward carbon neutrality

Faming Wang et al. Innovation (Camb). .

Abstract

To achieve the Paris Agreement, China pledged to become "Carbon Neutral" by the 2060s. In addition to massive decarbonization, this would require significant changes in ecosystems toward negative CO2 emissions. The ability of coastal blue carbon ecosystems (BCEs), including mangrove, salt marsh, and seagrass meadows, to sequester large amounts of CO2 makes their conservation and restoration an important "nature-based solution (NbS)" for climate adaptation and mitigation. In this review, we examine how BCEs in China can contribute to climate mitigation. On the national scale, the BCEs in China store up to 118 Tg C across a total area of 1,440,377 ha, including over 75% as unvegetated tidal flats. The annual sedimental C burial of these BCEs reaches up to 2.06 Tg C year-1, of which most occurs in salt marshes and tidal flats. The lateral C flux of mangroves and salt marshes contributes to 1.17 Tg C year-1 along the Chinese coastline. Conservation and restoration of BCEs benefit climate change mitigation and provide other ecological services with a value of $32,000 ha-1 year-1. The potential practices and technologies that can be implemented in China to improve BCE C sequestration, including their constraints and feasibility, are also outlined. Future directions are suggested to improve blue carbon estimates on aerial extent, carbon stocks, sequestration, and mitigation potential. Restoring and preserving BCEs would be a cost-effective step to achieve Carbon Neutral by 2060 in China despite various barriers that should be removed.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

None
Graphical abstract
Figure 1
Figure 1
The vertical and lateral C flux of tidal wetlands in China modified from Wang et al. MEHWS, mean extreme high spring water; MHW, mean high water; MLW, mean low water.
Figure 2
Figure 2
The provincial total C stocks of mangroves, salt marshes, seagrass, and tidal flats in China The provincial total C stocks of mangroves (A), salt marshes (B), seagrass (C), and tidal flats (D) in China. The data source refers to Tables 1, 2, 3, and 4. 1 Tg = 103 Gg = 106 Mg = 109 kg = 1012 g.
Figure 3
Figure 3
The vertical and lateral C flux of BCEs in China in units of Gg C year−1 1 Tg = 103 Gg = 106 Mg = 109 kg = 1012 g.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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