Wetlands are some of the most productive ecosystems on Earth, sequestering vast amounts of carbon each year – more than 1 million kilograms of carbon per hectare (more than the rainforests!) making them a key player in our fight against climate change.
Earthwatch partners with MangroveWatch and wetlands researchers across Australia and New Zealand, building the capacity of citizen scientists and Indigenous Rangers to monitor the condition and health of wetlands and translate that knowledge to protect these unique ecosystems.
Our research also fills the knowledge gaps – nationally and internationally – about blue carbon and the forest dynamics of this habitat that contributes to its function as a powerhouse among nature’s carbon sinks for nature-based solutions to climate change.
Blue Carbon is the name given to the carbon stored in coastal wetland ecosystems.
It also describes the critical ecosystem service that environmental markets want to see developed into carbon abatement projects, where organisations offset their carbon emissions by paying land managers (via a credit scheme) to protect and enhance these habitats.
Tidal wetlands and saltmarsh sequester up to four times more carbon than terrestrial forests and for longer, as the carbon is stored in both the plant and below the ground, trapping carbon away for hundreds of years.
Mitsubishi Corporation and the Australian Institute of Marine Science work to fill knowledge gaps that will help reef managers to make evidence-based decisions about active interventions that will support the Great Barrier Reef’s recovery, and the recovery of reefs around the world.
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The Earthwatch Student Challenge is a once in a lifetime opportunity for a select number of Year 10 - 12 students to experience environmental research first hand. In this Challenge, students help researchers understand how mangrove forests respond to severe flood events and develop strategies to protect and enhance these coastal habitats into the future.
Partnering with Mitsubishi Development, this program successfully raised the awareness and value of Queensland’s Blue Carbon stocks. Read more
In partnership with Coca Cola Australia Foundation, the Carpentaria Land Council Aboriginal Corporation, and Plastic Collective, Earthwatch provides training to 20 CLCAC Indigenous Land and Environment Rangers and 30 community volunteers to help deliver a first-of-its-kind marine pollution and wetland management program in the Lower Gulf of Carpentaria. Read more
Earthwatch partners with MangroveWatch and wetlands researchers across Australia and New Zealand, building the capacity of citizen scientists and Indigenous Rangers to monitor the condition and health of wetlands and translate that knowledge to protect these unique ecosystems. Read more
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