From 2015 to 2016 the European Commission co-funded the Life Blue Natura project. The project was coordinated by the regional government of Andalucía (Spain) and designed to quantify carbon deposits and sequestration rates in seagrass meadows and tidal marsh habitats in Andalucía, to analyse the evolution of these habitats in the coming decades, and to explore and promote initiatives to finance conservation and restoration projects of blue carbon habitats-sinks with policies for the mitigation of and adaptation to climate change, with specific attention being given to voluntary carbon offset markets.  Thanks to the work done in the Life Blue Natura project and the committment of the Junta de Andalucía, a group of private companies decided to team up in order to restore 365 ha. of tidal marshlands in the Parque Natural Bahía de Cádiz in order to offset up to 106.367 tones of CO2 in 50 years, being the first blue carbon project in which a regional government issues carbon credits in the voluntary market in Europe. This communication refers to the negotiation process, bureaucracy, technical issues and fears faced by the private consortium willing to restore the tidal marshland and the regional government of Andalucía. 

Primary Presenter: Federico Cardona Pons, Iberostar Group (fede.cardona@grupoiberostar.com)

Authors:

Federico Cardona_Pons, Grupo Iberostar  (fede.cardona@grupoiberostar.com)

Erika Harms, Iberostar Group  (erika.harms@iberostar.com)

Marta Sureda, Grupo Iberostar  (marta.sureda@grupoiberostar.com)

Victor Galvan, Grupo Iberostar  (victor.galvan@iberostar.com)

Camilo Cortés-Useche, Grupo Iberostar  (camilo.cortes@iberostar.com)

Johanna Calle-Triviño, Grupo Iberostar  (johanna.calle@iberostar.com)

Macarena Blanco-Pimentel, Grupo Iberostar  (macarena.blanco@iberostar.com)

Gregory Pelose,   (gregory.pelose@iberostar.com)

Megan Morikawa, Iberostar Group  (megan.morikawa@iberostar.com)