Australia marine hotspots found to store 2 billion tonnes of 'blue carbon'

Maeve Campbell

Australia marine hotspots found to store 2 billion tonnes of 'blue carbon'

Three World Heritage-listed marine sites in Australia store billions of tonnes of carbon dioxide, reports UNESCO.

The UN organisation has released its first global scientific assessment of ‘blue carbon’ ecosystems, which double as World Heritage sites. The research shows that preserving these environmental habitats could be “crucial” to fighting climate change due to the amount of carbon stored there.

The three sites mentioned are the Great Barrier Reef in Queensland, Shark Bay and the Ningaloo Coast in Western Australia.

Although the sites make up less than 1 per cent of the planet’s oceans, they house 15 per cent of blue carbon assets in their seagrass meadows, tidal marshes and mangroves.

2 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide are locked away in these marine ecosystems.

Read the story from Euro News.



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