Blue Carbon Portal Provides Home for International Blue
Carbon Community
20 September 2012 / GRID-Arendal / Arendal, Norway
GRID-Arendal and Blue Climate Solutions today unveiled the redesigned
‘Blue Carbon Portal’, the world’s premier comprehensive community-based website
for all matters related to blue carbon. Blue carbon is a concept that advances
the sustainable management of coastal marine ecosystems that store and
sequester atmospheric carbon, thereby helping to mitigate climate change.
Blue carbon ecosystems include mangrove forests, seagrass
meadows, and saltwater marshes also important for the vital ecosystem services
they provide, such as coastal fisheries, shoreline protection, related
eco-tourism and the conservation of marine biodiversity.
 |
| Seargass meadows can store carbon and thereby help mitigate climate change, while serving as important habitat for many marine species such as this endangered sea turtle (Credit: Steven J Lutz). |
The Blue Carbon Portal continues its support the rapidly growing blue carbon community and international efforts such as the United Nations Environment Programme’s (UNEP) Blue Carbon Initiative. It provides a virtual space to increase transparency and accessibility of information, helping initiatives to connect, share ideas and resources.
Features of the Blue Carbon Portal include:
- The Blue Carbon Blog and social media connectivity (e.g., Twitter Feed);
- A geospatial map utility depicting global blue carbon projects and initiatives;
- A resources page for all blue carbon publications, presentations and videos;
- A calendar of blue carbon events; and
- A directory of blue carbon initiatives.
“As started in 2010, the redesigned portal is intended as a platform
for community development and you will see things change and evolve: new
contributors, additional links, resources and much more,” said Steven Lutz,
Blue Carbon Project Manager at GRID-Arendal and Senior Adviser to Blue Climate Solutions. "We welcome everyone interested
or engaged in blue carbon to participate in the development of this site. If
you have a blue carbon story or activity that you would like to see
incorporated or if you would like to advertise a meeting, or share a new
resource then we would love to hear from you.”
To get involved, contact the Blue Carbon Portal’s
administrator via links on the sites web site: http://bluecarbonportal.org
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Notes:
GRID-Arendal
is an official United Nations Environment Programme's (UNEP) Centre located in Southern Norway. Established in 1989 as a Norwegian
foundation, its mission is to provide environmental information, communications
and capacity building services for information management and assessment. Grid-Arendal
website: www.grida.no
Blue
Climate Solutions is a project of The Ocean Foundation and is involved in advancing
the blue carbon concept through education and advocacy with national
governments, international bodies and the marine conservation community. Blue
Climate Solutions website: sites.google.com/site/blueclimatesolutions
