"Article 6 of the Paris Agreement can become the international mechanism that provides the necessary incentive for host countries to fully integrate coastal blue carbon into their NDCs" (Herr et al. 2018).It still happens that the term blue carbon is interpreted as being a market mechanism only. While there is no internationally agreed definition on “blue carbon” (yet), it solely describes that specific coastal and marine ecosystems act as carbon sinks or sources, which can be influenced by human interactions. But it does not prescribe any policy scheme or finance mechanism that can be used to incentive better management. A paper by Herr et al. 2017 (Pathways for implementation of blue carbon initiatives) elaborates on the different policy and finance options for coastal blue carbon management, and links those with activities we already see in countries, especially those engaging in the GEF Blue Forests project.In order to get a better understanding broadly, and provide some advice to those countries engaged in the GEF Blue Forests project, also called Small-Scale Interventions (SSIs), IUCN and Climate Focus developed a new paper analysing the opportunities and challenges of the Paris Agreement’s Article 6 for blue carbon ecosystems.
Options to use Art 6 for blue carbon management
