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BioFresh blog

Hello everyone,

I've recently signed up for the Greenboard and wanted to say hello. My name is Rob and I work as a researcher at Oxford University Centre for the Environment.

I write a blog on freshwater ecosystem conservation for an EU funded project called BioFresh here: www.biofreshblog.wordpress.com.

I'm always keen for people to join the discussion there - at the moment we're talking about invasive species and the management of new and 'novel' ecosystems.

Let me know if you have any questions, or anything I can help with - or simply say hello!

All the best

Rob

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Comment by Mika Huettner on February 1, 2011 at 10:03pm: Hey Rob,

thanks for the link. I agree- marine systems have a greater absorption potential, but are less threatened in a way that remedies are available. For freshwater ecosystems the situation is different I guess: there is a managable conversion threat, which could create some real additionality of protection measures - this additionality is the fundamental criterion for possible (carbon) payments. I also think that freshwater ecoystems provide a lot other ecosystem services, such as water purification. So if clustering theses values there might be a case for climate financing.

Comment by Rob St John on January 31, 2011 at 11:21am: Hi Mika

Thanks for this. At BioFresh we're predominantly concerned with the biodiversity and health of freshwater ecosystems, and don't tend to look at issues of carbon storage. However, it does appear that there are potential ways forward - the promise of mangrove swamps (tidal, brackish water, admittadly) for example. However, like REDD in terrestrial systems, the process is likely to be punctuated by numerous technological and political debates. I found this UNEP report useful: http://dev.grida.no/RRAbluecarbon/pdfs/update/split/BlueCarbon_scre...

An initial thought is that the sheer scale of marine ecosystems makes their potential relative value far greater than freshwater systems. It'll be interesting to see how the debate (and technology) develops

Rob

Comment by Mika Huettner on January 28, 2011 at 8:04am: Rob,

thanks for sharing your blog. Since you are the expert, here is my question: What do you think about the new hype on "blue carbon" i.e. carbon sequestration through the protection and restoration of freshwater and marine ecosystems? Do you think freshwater systems could act as large-scale carbon sinks?