Blue carbon MRV: measuring mangrove and coastal restoration
Blue carbon is the carbon captured by coastal and marine ecosystems — mangroves, seagrass and tidal wetlands. Measuring it credibly is hard, and that is exactly where MRV discipline matters most.
What blue carbon is
Blue carbon is the carbon captured and stored by coastal and marine ecosystems — principally mangroves, seagrass meadows and tidal salt marshes. These systems are disproportionately important: they sequester carbon quickly and store large amounts of it for the long term, much of it below ground in waterlogged soils.
Why blue carbon is hard to measure
The same features that make blue carbon valuable make it hard to monitor. A large share of the carbon is in soil and sediment, not visible canopy. Sites are tidal, remote and difficult to access. Conditions change quickly with hydrology and storms. Robust MRV therefore has to reconcile sparse but precise field measurement with frequent, wide-area remote sensing.
What credible blue carbon MRV looks like
Credible blue carbon MRV layers field plots (for biomass and soil carbon), satellite and aerial analysis (for extent, change and restoration progress) and community monitoring (for activities, threats and local context). On Straatos, Verra VCS VM0033 — for tidal wetland and seagrass restoration — is among the configured methodologies, with project types, modules and calculations set up for blue-carbon work.