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Building Blue Carbon Projects
An Introductory Guide
Coordination factors
define roles and responsibilities across institutions. Typically the
responsibility for Blue Carbon projects would lie within Environment Ministries, Protection
Agencies, and corresponding sector ministries, such as Forestry and Fisheries Departments or
Authorities. For Blue Carbon projects to succeed it would be generally advisable to develop
projects in those countries where Agencies and Ministries have a successful implementation track
record of environmental projects, especially those focusing on afforestation, reforestation and
REDD/REDD+. Another activity central to effective institutional coordination is ensuring wide
stakeholder participation in the drafting and project planning phase for Blue Carbon projects and
ensuring that stakeholder lists are based on the people who are doing these activities
Jurisdictional factors
affect the allocation of institutional authority relative to provincial and or
national boundaries. The institutional feasibility of Blue Carbon projects can be enhanced with a
pre-eminent role for the national government in the establishment of jurisdictional boundaries
regarding policymaking, master plan development, monitoring, and enforcement activities that
affect Blue Carbon projects. Provincial or regional policy, though clearly important, can vary
significantly from area to area. National policy, on the other hand, can be applied in a relatively
standardised way throughout a country and address jurisdictions directly. As a starting point,
project developers need to assess the jurisdictional boundaries and authorities related to Blue
Carbon resources.
Technical capacity factors
reflect the scientific expertise within institutions to carry out any
needed assessments. Blue carbon is a relatively new concept and not surprisingly, there is typically
limited national technical capacity for estimating and valuing Blue Carbon ecosystems. Network
building between developers and national institutions is one approach to build such capacity. That
is, given the complexities involved and the early stage of Blue Carbon development, it would be
generally advisable to engage with seasoned forest carbon project developers and or international
NGOs that demonstrate a successful track record in bringing projects to completion, under either
the regulatory or voluntary carbon markets.
Key takeaways:
It is crucial to continually engage with institutional stakeholders throughout the entire project
planning and implementation process.
Project developers should convey to stakeholders the mandate for Blue Carbon activities and
identify the appropriate authoritative bodies.
Project developers should have an understanding of potential conflicts of interest between
government agencies or others, along with a plan for addressing such issues.
A good preliminary target for recognizing the value of Blue Carbon is to identify areas in
existing policies and management where Blue Carbon may be easily incorporated.
