Grasses and Gases

• Author: Stephen Emmett-Mattox/Stephen Crooks/Jette Findsen
• Position: Senior Director of Strategic Planning and Programs at Restore America's Estuaries/Director of Climate Change Services, ESA PWA/Program Manager for Climate Change, Science Applications International Corporation
• Pages: 30-35

Page 30 ❧ THE ENVIRONMENTAL FORUM Copyright © 2011, Environmental Law Institute®, Washington, D.C. www.eli.org.

Reprinted by permission from The Environmental Forum®, July/August 2011

Are tidal wetlands ready for the carbon

markets? Nearly so. at is the conclu-

sion of a national panel of experts con-

vened in 2010 to identify and address

the scientif‌ic, policy, and economic

challenges of creating greenhouse gas of‌fset cred-

its through tidal wetlands restoration and manage-

ment.

Tidal wetlands hold vast stores of carbon, some

within standing biomass, but mostly within deep

organic-bearing soils. ese stores have built up

over millennia and ref‌lect signif‌icant pools of car-

bon dioxide transferred from the atmosphere and

sequestered within roots and other organic mate-

rial. e loss of wetland area, either through erosion

or diking, eliminates its ongoing sequestration ca-

pacity, and draining wetlands releases within a few

decades carbon that took centuries or millennia to

accumulate.

e restoration, conservation, or avoided loss

of tidal wetlands carbon pools may be attractive

to those seeking to mitigate climate change. Ques-

tions arise: Can we halt the release of carbon from

converted or eroding wetlands, and can we reverse

these losses through wetlands restoration? Can the

GHG mitigation value of these wetlands be quanti-

f‌ied and internalized in f‌inancial markets at a rate

that makes projects viable? Wetlands also of‌fer well-

recognized ecosystem benef‌its that are not fully

captured in management decisionmaking. To the

coastal conservation community, connecting wet-

lands restoration and management to the carbon

market of‌fers the attractive potential of a new and

sustainable funding stream.

GHG of‌fsets have long been promoted as an im-

portant element of a comprehensive climate change

policy approach. By enabling of‌fsets to be devel-

oped where the cost may be lower, of‌fsets projects

and programs can reduce the overall cost of achiev-

ing a given emissions reduction goal, a f‌inding sup-

ported by economic analyses.1 Furthermore, some

of‌fsets have the potential to deliver ecosystem sus-

tainability co-benef‌its and to develop human and

institutional capacity for reducing emissions in sec-

tors and locations that are uncapped or otherwise

unregulated under a cap-and-trade system or man-

datory government policy.

ere are challenges and concerns voiced by

the f‌inancial, science, and conservation communi-

ties. While tidal wetlands do ef‌fectively sequester

carbon, those in low salinity settings emit meth-

ane (CH4) as well. CH4 is approximately 21 times

Grasses

and

Gases

e restoration, conservation, or avoided

loss of tidal wetlands carbon pools may

help to mitigate climate change

Stephen Emmett- Mattox is

Senior Directo r of Strategic Planning

and Programs at Re store America’s

Estuaries.

Stephen Crooks is Dire ctor of

Climate Change Ser vices, ESA PWA.

Jette Findsen is Pro gram Manager

for Climate Change, Sc ience Applica-

tions Internati onal Corporation.

na T i o n a l we T l a n d s ne w s l e T T e r