Building Blue Carbon Projects - An Introductory Guide

8.6 The GEF Blue Forests Project

The Global  Environment  Facility’s  (GEF)  Blue Forest Project presents a global milestone opportunity for advancing the blue forests concept - the sustainable financing of coastal ecosystem management through values associated with carbon and wider ecosystem services. The project will achieve this through a coordinated international approach combining research, policy development, technical advice and practical tools coupled with small-scale interventions (i.e., demonstration projects). The project will build on existing initiatives and projects to become a major global driver through proving the concept on the ground and  it’s up-scaling internationally. The Blue Forests Project is a four year UNEP proposal focused on exploring carbon storage and sequestration and  the  valuation  of  other  ecosystem  services  for  ‘blue   forests’  ecosystems  (i.e.,  Blue  Carbon  ecosystems)   globally and how these values can be used to support sustainable and improved ecosystem management. The GEF project also focuses on addressing key knowledge gaps related to the valuation of carbon and related blue forests ecosystem services and the global uptake of methodologies and approaches developed in the project allowing for replication in other sites and mainstreaming into international policy, including through the GEF International Waters platform.

Partners of the GEF Blue Forests Project

United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) GRID-Arendal UNEP World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC) International Union for Conservation of Conservation International World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Abu Dhabi Global Environmental Data Initiative (AGEDI) Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries- Indonesia UNEP Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean (UNEP-ROLAC) US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) US Forest Service Kenya Marine and Fisheries Research Institute (KMFRI) South African Institute of International Affairs (SAIIA) The Ocean Foundation Duke University Stockholm University Charles Darwin University Nature (IUCN) Blue Ventures

This major global initiative serves as an umbrella project, in which the concept of blue forests is explored through a series of shared experiences. The small-scale interventions will be supported by a project component focussed on providing support and local-scale guidance for carbon assessment, ecosystem services valuation and policy uptake. GEF-funded interventions are located in Ecuador, Mozambique, Indonesia, Madagascar (Figure 14). The Abu Dhabi Blue Carbon Demonstration Project contributes to the Blue Forests Project as its featured intervention for the United Arab Emirates and is provided through 100% co-finance. The Blue Forests Project is expected to build further on the lessons learned in the Abu Dhabi Blue Carbon exploration and replicate successes. Replication and up-scaling activities are also planned in Kenya and Central America.

The Blue Forests Project was endorsed by the GEF in February 2014.

Building Blue Carbon Projects An Introductory Guide

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